A federal judge will size up the status of the Jan. 6 case against Morgantown resident George Tanios and his alleged collaborator, Julian Khater.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan set a hearing for 11 a.m. Monday after lawyers for Khater signaled they’re seriously considering a plea agreement. The lawyers for Khater asked the judge to delay a trial date and all the motions leading up to it.
Tanios is accused of passing pepperspray to Khater, who aimed it at police officers including Brian Sicknick, who later died. A medical examiner concluded that Sicknick died of natural causes after suffering two strokes
Tanios and Khater are charged with nine counts including assaulting three officers with a deadly weapon. The charges are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Earlier this year, the judge had set a June 6 trial date for Tanios and Khater. Tanios has pleaded not guilty to this point, preparing for a jury trial over the coming months.
A March 28 motion filed on behalf of Khater asked to hold off on preparations for the trial. Khater’s lawyers indicated the motion was made with the consent of the other attorneys in the case, including federal prosecutors.
That motion makes brief reference to the lawyers for Tanios, but the Morgantown man’s public defenders did not sign on and have not submitted their own filing about the trial date.
“Notably, this request is made to afford the parties additional time to continue their meaningful discussions about a potential resolution of this matter.” wrote the lawyers for Khater.
The lawyers for Khater wrote that ongoing discussions might mean a trial isn’t necessary.
“And, significantly, if that were to occur, it would not only avoid the unnecessary expenditure of judicial resources but avoid officers, and their family members, involved in the events of January 6th from having to bear the emotional toll of a trial,” those lawyers wrote.
The motion noted that some pretrial motions had been filed already over the past few weeks, including a motion by Tanios to dismiss one of the felony counts.
The Tanios motion filed March 16 asks for dismissal of a civil disorder charge that alleges he and Khater attempted to obstruct, impede and interfere with law enforcement officers. Lawyers for Tanios argue that the section of federal code is “so broad and indefinite as to impose unqualified burdens on protected expression.”
The lawyers for Tanios contend the charge is a result of “assembly-line indictments in the January 6 cases generally” without enough specificity in this particular situation.
” Count Five does not include any description of Mr. Tanios’s actual conduct or the specific circumstances involved,” his lawyers wrote.
Tanios and Khater are among 725 arrested in various crimes for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The mob storming the U.S. Capitol 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.
Of the thousands of protesters in Washington, D.C., that day, about 800 went into the Capitol, police have said.
West Virginians facing federal charges of entering the Capitol that day are former Parkersburg Councilman Eric Barber, former state Delegate Derrick Evans of Wayne County, who resigned after being charged, college senior Gracyn Courtright of Hurricane and Jeffery Finley, a Martinsburg resident said to lead West Virginia’s group of right wing Proud Boys.
Finley entered a guilty plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Documents entered in his case describe planning and interactions with the larger, loosely-knit Proud Boys organization.
Courtright has served one month in federal prison in Philadelphia and was released earlier this month.
Barber pleaded guilty last Dec. 16 to two federal misdemeanors, and a federal judge has now rescheduled the sentencing for 10 a.m. June 1.
Evans pleaded guilty earlier this month to a civil disorder charge. A sentencing hearing has been set for 12:30 p.m. June 26.