Derrick Evans, the newly-elected West Virginia lawmaker accused of surging into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, has pleaded not guilty but lawyers have made clear that plea deal talks are active.
Evans resigned his seat in the West Virginia Legislature just a few days after entering the U.S. Capitol as sirens blared, disrupting Congress as it certified electoral results from the presidential election. He still faces four federal misdemeanor charges and participated in an arraignment hearing today.
His defense attorney, David Tyson, today told U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth that Evans pleads not guilty.
But Tyson and federal prosecutors were open about ongoing plea discussions, although they provided little detail.
“The government and the defense have engaged in preliminary plea discussions. These are not finalized,” said Kathryn Fifield of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, adding that discussions are expected to continue.
Judge Lamberth agreed it’s wise to let those discussions plan out. He set a status conference for 2 p.m. June 25.
“There’s a lot of moving wheels. It makes more sense to try to see if you can come to a resolution, at least that discovery is possible, to see where we are,” Lamberth said.
Evans faces four counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
All are misdemeanors.
Evans, a Wayne County resident, was among the thousands of people who rallied at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
A mob storming the U.S. Capitol that day disrupted the constitutional duty of counting Electoral College votes and prompted the evacuations of representatives, senators and Vice President Mike Pence. One woman was fatally shot while trying to climb into the chambers, three others died from “medical emergencies” and more than 100 police officers were injured.
Hundreds of people now face charges from the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. They are being processed in a court system still operating under coronavirus protocols.
Several West Virginians face charges from that day’s events. They include George Tanios, a Morgantown sandwich shop operator accused in the assault of three Capitol police officers with pepperspray, former Parkersburg Councilman Eric Barber, and college senior Gracyn Courtright of Hurricane.
Evans livestreamed and then deleted videos from inside, but others took screenshots and videos of the original videos.
In one, he is shoots cell phone video out into the Capitol interior while surging through a door. At one point, he turns the camera on himself, revealing that he is wearing a helmet. He says, “We’re in! We’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
The federal charges accuse him of entering the restricted U.S. Capitol without the lawful authority to do so.
Moreover, Evans is accused of “knowingly, and with intent to impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions, engaged in disorderly and disruptive conduct in and within such proximity to, the United States Capitol, a restricted building, when and so that such conduct did in fact impede and disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business and official functions.”