A federal judge in California has withdrawn from the case of a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter after the Trump administration notified the court that it supported the defendant’s motion to be released from prison as he appeals separate felony gun charges on the theory that his pardon absolved him of those crimes as well.

While it was not immediately clear if the judge resigned in protest, it would be the result of the Justice Department’s new position that President Donald Trump’s sweeping grant of pardons for those convicted of attacking the Capitol extends to a variety of crimes unrelated to Jan. 6.

“Good cause appearing, the assigned District Judge disqualifies herself from all proceedings in the present action,” U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston wrote in a self-signed order filed Wednesday. “The Clerk of the Court SHALL reassign this action to the docket.”

Chief U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley stepped in later that day and signed the document granting the release of 46-year-old Benjamin Martin.

Martin, who has multiple previous convictions for domestic violence, was found guilty in November 2024 of possessing an illegal weapons cache that included an AR‑style rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition. His conviction came after a one-day trial before Thurston, who subsequently ordered Martin to serve three years and two months in federal prison.

Martin in June 2024 was convicted for his role in the Capitol riot, where he confronted cops at a set of doors to the U.S. Capitol building and got sprayed by mace.

A federal judge this week had choice words for Donald Trump‘s pardon freeing the rioters charged for the events on Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw Trump’s criminal prosecution involving his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election before the case was dropped, said in an order dismissing another Jan. 6 defendant’s case, “No pardon can change the tragic truth of what happened on January 6, 2021.”

“On that day, ‘a mob professing support for then-President Trump violently attacked the Capitol’… the dismissal of this case cannot undo the ‘rampage [that] left multiple people dead, injured more than 140 people, and inflicted millions of dollars in damage”” she wrote. “It cannot diminish the heroism of law enforcement who ‘struggled, facing serious injury and even death, to control the mob that overwhelmed them’… it cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake.”

A former Army captain and Proud Boys member from Florida was sentenced to one year behind bars for his role for helping organize the Jan. 6 riot and for storming the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson also sentenced 43-year-old Gabriel Augustin Garcia to two years probation and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution. Garcia was convicted of two felony charges of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. The obstruction charge was later dismissed as part of the Supreme Court’s decision in Fischer v. United States.

More from Law&Crime: Capitol rioter who ‘lit the match’ on Jan. 6 gets reduced prison sentence after SCOTUS shoots down widely-used obstruction charge

According to prosecutors, Garcia was a member of the Proud Boys’ “Ministry of Self Defense” that was hand selected by leader Enrique Tarrio, the man currently spending a 22-year-prison sentence for his role in the riot. The group discussed about the potential for violence in a group text. Three days before the assault, Garcia texted “1776 flag flying over the White House last night” and then later added, “time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill.”

Around 1 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Garcia received a message from fellow Proud Boys that they were “storming” the Capitol. Garcia went to the Capitol and joined the mob.

As Law&Crime previously reported, prosecutors said Garcia was at “the very front of the crowd” that violently rushed a line of Capitol police on Jan. 6. Once the crowd broke through that line, Garcia recorded himself calling out for then-House Speaker Pelosi.

A Utah farmer and one-time MMA fighter who hit police guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 with wood and metal poles is going to prison.

Odin Meacham, 30, was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release. Bates found Meacham guilty of civil disorder, assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and trespassing.

The Washington, D.C. judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election subversion case has warned him that he might face criminal consequences for the actions of Jan. 6 rioters – even absent any kind of direct encouragement on his part.

In a 50-page order, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday dispensed with various outstanding motions intent on prying information away from the government. In a mixed-bag ruling, the court granted Trump’s requests in part – and denied them in part.

Likely unexpected by the defense was the court musing about the relative strength of one of the government’s cornerstone arguments. Namely, the idea that Trump himself bears responsibility for the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol Complex.

“It is entirely conceivable, for instance, that Defendant could share responsibility for the events of January 6 without such express authorization of rioters’ criminal actions,” Chutkan mused.

A 41-year-old South Carolina man pleaded guilty for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach which included breaking into then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and opening doors to allow more rioters to enter the building from the outside.

William Robert Norwood III pleaded guilty to obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said. He traveled from South Carolina to D.C. for then-President Donald Trump’s speech and then made his way toward the Capitol.

He climbed the stairs and entered the building through the northwest Senate Wing door shortly before 2:30 p.m., prosecutors said. He then entered an office where he recorded a video of himself  “saying, ‘Well we in this b— now. What now? This is our house,’ upon entering the office, and ‘Where you at, Nancy?’ upon leaving the office.

After that, Norwood went to then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with a group of people. He swiped a coaster with the words “U.S. Congress” and the Congressional seal on it, per prosecutors. Norwood then walked through the Rotunda and toward the East Rotunda doors which were closed and being guarded by at least three Capitol police officers, prosecutors wrote.

“Norwood yelled at officers to open the doors, but the officers repeatedly told Norwood and the others that the doors would not be opened.  Norwood knew that the officers were attempting to keep the doors closed, yet he continued to push on the doors with his arms,” prosecutors said.

With the help of several people, Norwood pushed the doors open, allowing “hundreds of rioters” outside to enter the Capitol. Norwood decided to make another video of himself in front of a line of cops.

“Oh these a——-, trying to push us out. . . . Should we take our house back? Our house. Y’all are a bunch of p——. It’s about to go down bro.” Norwood then points the camera to himself and says, “It’s about to go down. Cause I’m gonna go … attack these m—– f—— later. No f—— around, no no.”

After leaving the Capitol, he allegedly took a U.S. Capitol Police helmet and plate carrier. As Law&Crime previously reported, it was Norwood’s relatives who informed on him.

Ten days after the deadly events at the Capitol, a relative referred to only as “J.D.” told the FBI that another relative, “T.D.,” had a brother (Norwood) who “claimed to have assaulted federal officers.” on Jan. 6th.

FBI agents met J.D. to get more of the story. J.D. said that he or she was at dinner with T.D. when he or she learned the information.

The next day, agents met with T.D.; T.D. gave them Norwood’s phone number and copies of text messages from Norwood which prosecutors cited in court papers.

“I’m dressing in all black. I’ll look just like ANTIFA,” Norwood is alleged to have texted a small group on Jan. 5th, one day before the Capitol siege. “I’ll get away with anything,” he then added.

“It worked,” he said on Jan. 7th. “I got away with things that others were shot or arrested for.”

“I tested a theory. I was right. I saw ANTIFA being bussed in and escorted by the police,” he dubiously claimed. “Trump has announced he [w]ill leave in a peaceful way on Jan. 20th. It[‘]s not right on so many levels[] that this fraudulent election could not be investigated to the fullest.”

Federal authorities have said there’s been no evidence to date that Antifa was involved in the evens of Jan. 6.

“The cop shot a female Trump supporter[], [t]hen allowed ‘ANTIFA Trump Supporters’ to assault him. I was one of them,” Norwood texted the group on Jan. 7th in an apparent reference to the killing of Ashli Babbitt. “I was there. I took his shit.”

Immediately following that message is an image prosecutors believe shows Norwood wearing a police vest under his own coat.

“He deserved worse,” Norwood is alleged to have continued. “His life was not threatened.”

“Y’all are wild,” T.D. replied.

“I fought 4 cops[;] they did nothing,” Norwood then said. “When I put my red hat on, they pepper balled me.”

“No[,] not wild[;] we can sniff BS when we see it,” someone named Angela added to the thread.

“They were ordered to allow Antifa to get away with anything,” Norwood then claimed.

“I got a nice helmet and body armor off a cop for God’s sake and I disarmed him,” Norwood went on to muse. “Tell me how that works.”

T.D., who shared the messages with the FBI, then jumped in again.

“Robbie [the defendant] literally bragged about pretending to be this mysterious Antifa y[‘]all go on and on about, and then you say no REAL [A]ntifa did this,” T.D. said.

Some of his reply text is cut off in the available photos.

“He thought I was ANTIFA,” Norwood said with apparent reference to an officer.

“Listen to yourselves,” T.D. said.

Norwood then shared a screen shot of a message which purported that Antifa operatives were going from Portland to D.C. and were planning “to wear camouflage, cut-offs, and Trump paraphernalia to blend in, but turning their MAGA hats backward for identification.”

“You admitted to going and being something you’re accusing other people of being,” T.D. said. “And then got mad and blamed others for the same thing you did. What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”

Norwood attempted to claim the high moral ground.

“I saved several cops from being killed by Antifa,” Norwood said. “I defended them after they assaulted me. They were scared for there [sic] lives.”

T.D. then issued a few lines to mock Norwood.

“The one cop who deserved it, got it,” Norwood replied.

“Unbelievable,” T.D. said.

“I’m anti shitty cop,” Norwood said, per the texts referenced in federal court documents. “The cops who acted shitty got exactly what they deserved. The ones who were cool, got help.”

Norwood decided to speak to the FBI on Jan. 22. In what agents describe as a noncustodial interview, Norwood admitted traveling to D.C. with his wife to attend Trump’s rally, then admitted going to the U.S. Capitol. There, he became separated from his wife in the crowd.

“[H]e was close enough to law enforcement to be sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant,” charging documents say.

Despite that, Norwood “then admitted to entering the U.S. Capitol, including, at one point, the Capitol Rotunda.”

The defendant then claimed a Capitol Police officer told him, “I’m in your side.”

Norwood said the crowd prevented him from leaving. He also “claimed to have helped protect multiple officers from being assaulted, including by forming a human chain to protect certain officers.”

He then claimed he left the capitol building and that an “unknown person took a police vest from a pile of police equipment that was lying on the ground outside the west side of the Capitol building and put it on” him. He said he took a helmet from the pile, put it on, and reunited with his wife.

“N[orwood]’s description of how he acquired the vest and helmet is consistent with U.S. Capitol Police officers’ accounts of how their equipment was stolen by rioters on January 6, 2021,” the FBI agent said.

Norwood told the FBI that he stayed with “an older couple from Ohio, who invited them to stay in their hotel room at the Hampton Inn for the night.”

He could provide no further details about the hotel room, but he claimed he ditched the police gear inside when he split town.

Norwood also denied to the feds that he had assaulted any law enforcement officers. Rather, he said his statements in the aforementioned text messages were merely uttered so he would “sound tough.”

“N[orwood] repeatedly claimed that he only attempted to help law enforcement, not hurt them,” the charging documents say.

Norwood turned photos of himself at the Jan. 6 events over to the FBI.

Agents also recovered surveillance video which purports to show him inside the Capitol complex.

A judge will sentence Norwood on Feb. 21, 2025.

Aaron Keller contributed to this report

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An Illinois man seen in video firing a pistol atop scaffolding outside the Capitol building during the insurrection has been arrested, authorities said.

John Banuelos, 39, is charged with felonies including civil disorder, trespassing with a deadly or dangerous weapon and carrying and discharging a firearm. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, federal prosecutors said.

Following a weeklong trial in Washington, D.C., Michael Sparks, the very first rioter to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6 — he climbed through a window smashed apart by none other than convicted Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola — has been found guilty on six charges, including felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder.

The Kentucky resident came before jurors in the nation’s capital for a week before they rendered a guilty verdict across six counts. Besides the felony charges, Sparks was also convicted of misdemeanor offenses including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.