Capitol riot defendants are asking judges to halt their cases, saying Trump promised them pardons
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- Donald Trump said he'd pardon January 6 rioters if he won the presidential election.
- Now that he's won, January 6 defendants are filing motions to postpone their hearings.
- Legal experts told BI it is unlikely a judge would grant the requests.
Hours after most news outlets declared Donald Trump the winner of the presidential election, lawyers for January 6 defendants started to file motions, hoping to reap the benefits.
On Wednesday morning, an attorney for Christopher Carnell, who was found guilty of obstruction and other charges related to the riot on January 6, 2021, filed a motion to postpone a status hearing scheduled for Friday, court documents say.
Carnell sought to move the hearing to December because he "is now awaiting further information from the Office of the President-elect regarding the timing and expected scope of clemency actions relevant to his case."
Carnell is one of those arrested in the aftermath of the Capitol riot who is now hoping Trump will follow through on a promise of a pardon.
"President-elect Trump made multiple clemency promises to the January 6 defendants, particularly to those who were nonviolent participants," the filing said. It added that Carnell "is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office."
A judge denied Carnell's request on Wednesday. Carnell's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An attorney for Jaimee Avery, another January 6 defendant, also filed a motion to delay a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday. Avery's lawyer is seeking to postpone it until after the presidential inauguration in January because of the "real possibility that the incoming Attorney General will dismiss Ms. Avery's case or, at the very least, handle the case in a very different manner." As such, it would be "fundamentally unfair" for Avery to be sentenced this week.
"Moreover, it would create a gross disparity for Ms. Avery to spend even a day in jail when the man who played a pivotal role in organizing and instigating the events of January 6 will now never face consequences for his role in it," a footnote in the filing reads.
Avery's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Justice Department's investigations and trials related to January 6 are ongoing. As of November, the Justice Department said that over 1,532 people had been charged, including 571 people who face felony charges of assaulting or impeding the police.
Throughout his campaign, Trump described imprisoned January 6 defendants as "political prisoners" who were "ushered in" to the federal building by Capitol Police.
Despite objections from some prominent Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who was a target of the rioters, Trump has maintained that he would pardon many of the defendants, with the exception of those who are "evil and bad," he told Time in April.
Speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists in July, Trump said he would "absolutely" pardon rioters.
"If they're innocent, I would pardon them," he said. "They were convicted by a very tough system."
Nadia Shihata, a former assistant US Attorney best known for her role in the New York sex trafficking prosecution of R. Kelly, told Business Insider that it's unlikely a judge would change their schedule based on the promise of potential clemency.
"Generally, in judicial proceedings, you're not focused on what political decisions may or may not happen in the future," Shihata said. "And so I don't know that a judge would necessarily be convinced to change their schedule based on that."
David Shapiro, director of inspection and oversight at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former prosecutor, told Business Insider that most defense attorneys will probably take a "wait and see approach" to see if Trump actually starts granting clemency to defendants.
"In the beginning, if he does something like that to a couple of defendants, yeah, you'll see a trend," Shapiro said.