Judge grants feds a surprise extension in J20 trial, extending Trump inauguration protesters ordeal
In a case hinging on Federal prosecutors can't seem to find an expert willing to testify
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Irony lives. Just ask the almost 60 anti-Trump protesters who were arrested on Inauguration Day in 2017 and are still awaiting their trials.
Prosecutors have argued that protesters seeking to shield their identities for fear of political reprisal are doing something wrong, but on Wednesday, they won a shock delay in the case specifically because their own expert witnesses are struggling with similar questions of anonymity and online reprisals.
From an initial group of more than 200 people who faced felony rioting and destruction of property charges in the case, 59 defendants are left. Six were acquitted on all counts in December, a defeat that prompted the U.S. Attorney’s Office and lead prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff to drop charges against more than 100 other people.
The next group trial was set to begin next week, almost exactly 15 months after a handful of protesters smashed store windows and scrapped with cops. The judge’s surprise ruling on Wednesday knocks the start date back to early June — and keeps the defendants’ lives in disarray for at least another couple months on top of the year-plus of disruption they’ve endured already.
https://thinkprogress.org/judge-grants-feds-a-surprise-extension-in-j20-trial-extending-trump-inauguration-protesters-ordeal-6dccea2d4969/
