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US to drop charges against man accused in Capitol riot
US prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday to dismiss all charges against accused rioter Christopher Kelly. It’s the first time the government has given up on a case in the far-reaching criminal investigation of the riot, which led to five deaths.
The Justice Department plans to drop charges against one of the more than 400 Trump supporters it has accused of participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol.
US prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday to dismiss all charges against accused rioter Christopher Kelly. It’s the first time the government has given up on a case in the far-reaching criminal investigation of the riot, which led to five deaths. Kelly was accused of unlawful entry and obstruction of an official proceeding, among other offenses.
A spokesman for the Justice Department, Marc Raimondi, said the US was dropping the case because the charges against Kelly were “not consistent with what has been the standard across the other investigations.” Unlike other people who were arrested for their actions at the Capitol on Jan. 6, Kelly was not accused of committing serious crimes like damaging camera equipment or assaulting police officers.
“This one was kind of an anomaly,” Raimondi said. “Most folks that were charged just for being on the grounds were charged if there were additional offenses, or some other serious charge.”
Kelly’s lawyer, Edward MacMahon, declined to comment.
In an arrest affidavit filed by the government in January, an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation laid out a series of social media posts in which Kelly discussed the Jan. 6 protests and circulated a photograph that appeared to show rioters inside the Capitol.
Since the storming of the Capitol, federal prosecutors have charged alleged participants with a range of crimes, from disorderly conduct to conspiracy to block the certification of the election results.
