WASHINGTON (AP) – Federal prosecutors revealed Wednesday that a witness expected to testify for the defense in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates secretly acted as an informant. government for nearly two years after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, a defense attorney said in a court filing.
Carmen Hernandez, an attorney for former Proud Boys leader Zachary Rehl, asked a judge to schedule an emergency emergency hearing and suspend the trial “until these issues can be considered and resolved.” Lawyers for the other four defendants joined Hernandez’s request.
Hernandez said in court papers that the defense team was told by prosecutors Wednesday afternoon that the witness they planned to call to the stand Thursday was a government informant.
The judge ordered prosecutors to file a response to the defense filing on Thursday afternoon and set a hearing for the same day, withholding testimony in the case until Friday. The US attorney’s office did not immediately comment on the filing.
In his court filing, Hernandez said the unnamed informant participated in “prayer meetings” with relatives of at least one of the Proud Boys on trial and spoke to family members about the settlement. instead of one of the defense attorneys in the case. The informant also contacted at least one of the defense attorneys and at least one of the five defendants, Hernandez wrote.
It’s the latest twist in a trial that has been marred by bickering between lawyers and the judge and has taken longer than expected. Defense attorneys have repeatedly asked the judge to declare a mistrial on various issues they say are unfair to their clients.
The trial in federal court in Washington is one of the most serious cases to emerge from the January 6 attack. Tarrio, Rehl and three other Proud Boys – Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola – are accused of conspiring to block the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Tarrio, a Miami resident, serves as national chairman for the far-right extremist group, whose members describe it as a politically incorrect boys’ club for “Western chauvinists.” He and the other Proud Boys could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Defense attorneys argued there was no evidence the Proud Boys planned to attack the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.
Hernandez did not name the informant in his court filing, but he said it was someone who served as a “confidential human source” for the federal government from April 2021 to January 2023. prosecutors in December that the man was a potential trial witness but did not inform defense attorneys until Wednesday that the witness was a federal informant, he said.
This is not the first time the government’s use of informants has become an issue in the case. Defense lawyers have repeatedly pushed for more information about informants in the far-right extremist group as they try to dispel the idea that the group is planning an attack on the Capital on January 6.
FBI Agent Nicole Miller testified last week that she knew two informants of the Proud Boys, including the one who marched in the Capital on January 6.
Hernandez said there are “reasons to doubt the authenticity of the government’s explanation and justification for withholding information about (confidential human sources) involved in the case.” He could not immediately be reached for further comment.
Law enforcement often uses informants in criminal investigations, but their methods and identities can be closely guarded secrets. Federal authorities have not publicly released much information about their use of informants to investigate the role of the Proud Boys in the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol.
Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, is a Proud Boys chapter leader. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Rehl is the president of the Proud Boys chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola is a member of the Proud Boys from Rochester, New York.
___
Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
