Background: Violent rioters supporting President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File). Inset: Thomas Osborne (Federal Bureau of Investigation).
An accused Jan. 6 rioter from Florida who allegedly harbored a member of the Proud Boys extremist group while they were on the run from police has tried — and failed — to get the Donald Trump treatment this week, unsuccessfully filing to postpone his federal trial after claiming a “high member” of the future president’s administration had promised him a pardon.
“The undersigned has spoken with a high member of the future Trump Administration and the future pardon of Thomas Osborne is almost a certainty,” wrote attorney Jeffrey G. Brown in a Nov. 17 court filing, which came after prosecutors objected to pushing back Osborne’s case earlier this month.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, a Barack Obama appointee, slapped down the accused rioter’s Nov. 11 motion on Monday to stay or continue his trial, saying Osborne “has failed to demonstrate” that he meets the legal requirements for such relief.
“This matter has been pending since February 21, 2024,” the judge noted. “The public has strong interest in the prompt adjudication of this matter, and Defendant’s speculation that he may receive a pardon cannot overcome the strength of that interest.”
Osborne faces felony and misdemeanor charges related to his alleged participation in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, with him being released from jail in March pending his federal trial. He was arrested in Lakeland, Florida, and indicted in February after being placed on a “lookout” list, according to Justice Department officials.
Prosecutors say Osborne impeded police who were defending the Capitol and allegedly grabbed an officer’s baton at one point. His charges include felony civil disorder, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.
Osborne allegedly traveled to Washington, D.C., that day with other individuals and is said to have alleged ties to Proud Boys member Christopher Worrell — who he is accused of illegally “harboring” in 2023.
“[Worrell] was tried by bench trial last summer, found guilty on all counts for his conduct in the January 6th riot that took place, and prior to sentencing he also cut his GPS monitor and left a letter for his girlfriend and said that, you know, he needed to go,” said U.S. Attorney Risha Asokan at a court hearing earlier this year, per The Associated Press.
“The FBI subsequently learned that, for the approximately six weeks that Worrell had absconded pending his sentencing, Osborne had been harboring Worrell at Osborne’s residence,” prosecutors wrote in a motion opposing Osborne’s March release. “In December 2023, the FBI searched Osborne’s residence and recovered certain of Worrell’s belongings.”
Text messages between Osborne and Worrell were also recovered by investigators, according to prosecutors. As Law&Crime reported, Worrell went on the lam in August 2023 just days before he was set to be sentenced.
Finding Worrell’s belongings inside Osborne’s home were the least of prosecutors’ worries though, according to FBI officials, as authorities also allegedly stumbled upon an “astonishing amount of guns” — including a loaded silver revolver stashed near his front door, an AR-15 platform rifle next to his bed and a shotgun underneath it, multiple handguns on the top of his dresser and “an alarming” number of loaded and unloaded magazines, per FBI officials.
Prosecutors pointed to Osborne’s alleged weapons cache in court while objecting to his March release, but Mehta wound up granting his release.
“There’s no point in running because you’re eventually going to get caught,” he told Osborne, per the AP. Mehta claimed that if Osborne ran, it would only “make matters worse.”
Osborne’s lawyer argued in his Nov. 17 motion that he should have his trial pushed back on account of Trump’s election win and recent rulings by other judges to do so for other alleged Jan. 6 rioters.
He noted that Trump made promises during his campaign that his supporters expect him to keep.
“[T]he one who did win had repeatedly vowed to pardon January 6th defendants [like Mr. Osborne],” Brown said. Of the requested delay, he asked: “[H]ow is waiting three months an inefficient administration of justice?”
Under the conditions of Osborne’s release, he is being forced to live with his sister and father, who are supposed to be keeping him under a 24-hour lockdown at their home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Mehta’s release order bars Osborne from possessing any firearms.
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