UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA :
:
v. : Case No. 21-CR-175 (TJK)
:
ETHAN NORDEAN, et al. :
:
Defendant. :
GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT PEZZOLA’S MOTION FOR
DISMISSAL AND/OR MISTRIAL
2. The videos are not exculpatory.
Pezzola’s possession of the videos is dispositive of his Brady claim. Nonetheless, the
record should be clear that the videos in question are not exculpatory of Pezzola or any other
participant in the siege of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In fact, the videos of Chansley’s
movements throughout his time in the Capitol are highly inculpatory of Pezzola, Chansley, and
other rioters captured on them.
Pezzola’s argument seems to be that the snippets of Chansley’s movements that were
televised by Carlson establish that there was no emergency necessitating the suspension of
proceedings.
The televised footage lacks the context of what occurred before and after the footage. Chansley entered the building as part of a violent crowd that gained access as a result of Pezzola’s
destruction of a window and he traveled with Pezzola during the initial breach. And just as
Defendant Biggs had recounted in a recorded statement after January 6, 2021, by the time Pezzola
forcibly breached the Capitol and Chansley rode his coattails, the mob—through the sheer force
of its size and the violence of those within it—had wrested control of portions of the Capitol ......
,
Chansley had, amongst other acts,breached a police line at 2:09 p.m. with the mob, entered the Capitol less than one minute behind
Pezzola during the initial breach of the building, and faced off with members of the U.S. Capitol
Police for more than thirty minutes in front of the Senate Chamber doors while elected officials,
including the Vice President of the United States, were fleeing from the chamber. Chansley then
entered the Senate Gallery, where he proceeded to scream obscenities while other rioters rifled
through the desks of U.S. Senators on the floor below. All these actions were captured by Senate
floor and/or CCTV cameras. In sum,
Chansley was not some passive, chaperoned observer of
events for the roughly hour that he was unlawfully inside the Capitol. He was part of the initial
breach of the building; he confronted law enforcement for roughly 30 minutes just outside the
Senate Chamber; he gained access to the gallery of the Senate along with other members of the
mob (obviously, precluding any Senate business from occurring);