National Roundup

Washington
Man with fire extinguisher at Capitol riot rejects plea deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Maryland man accused of spraying a fire extinguisher toward police at an entrance to the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot has rejected a plea deal presented by federal prosecutors, according to a court filing on Friday.

The court filing doesn’t disclose any terms of the plea agreement that prosecutors offered to 22-year-old Matthew Ryan Miller. In the joint filing, a prosecutor and a lawyer for Miller say they are discussing possible trial dates.

Miller, who lives with his mother in Maryland’s Howard County, was arrested in January. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Dec. 3 on charges that include assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers with a dangerous weapon, the fire extinguisher.

Miller was wearing a black cowboy hat and a Washington Capitals jersey with a Maryland state flag draped over his shoulders as he used a ladder to scale the walls of the west side of the Capitol plaza, the FBI said in a court filing.

A video shows Miller joining a crowd of rioters in pushing toward police guarding the same entrance in which he deployed the fire extinguisher, according to prosecutors. They said the crowd appeared to be chanting “Heave! Ho!” as it rocked back and forth.

Prosecutors say the video refutes Miller’s claim that he was only protesting and left when he saw that other protestors were engaging in violence.

A defense attorney, A. Eduardo Balarezo, has said there is no evidence that Miller entered the Capitol or engaged in any acts of violence.

“In a momentary lapse in judgment, a young and impressionable Mr. Miller got caught up in the moment and acted against his better instincts,” Balarezo wrote.

Miller is a self-identified member of a group called “Patriotic American Cowboys” and also donned the Gadsden Flag during the Jan. 6 attack, according to prosecutors. They said in a court filing that the Gadsden Flag, which “depicts a rattlesnake above the words “Don’t Tread on Me, has become a symbol for the Tea Party, Second Amendment advocates and “organizations opposing government overreach.”

More than 660 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 siege. About 130 of them have pleaded guilty and 40 of them have been sentenced.

Scott Fairlamb, a New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the riot, was sentenced earlier this month to 41 months in prison. Fairlamb, 44, was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for assaulting a law enforcement officer.

Georgia
5 officers indicted in naked man’s death at festival
MCDONOUGH, Ga. (AP) — A grand jury in Georgia has indicted five law enforcement officers in the 2019 death of a naked man who was pressed on the ground outside of a music festival, a prosecutor says.

The Henry County Grand Jury issued the indictment involving multiple charges, including malice murder, on Friday after hearing two days of testimony from witnesses, Henry County Assistant District Attorney Megan Matteucci said.

Warrants for the officers’ arrests will be issued next week, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It was not known if the officers had lawyers who could speak on their behalf.

The indictments stem from an incident in September 2019 outside of Atlanta Motor Speedway as it hosted the Imagine Music Festival, Matteucci said in a news release.

Fernando Rodriguez, 24, died of asphyxiation after he was handcuffed and pressed to the ground while the officers waited for an ambulance, according to Matteucci’s statement.

Henry County police officers Robert Butera and Quinton Phillips, along with Hampton police officers Mason Lewis, Marcus Stroud and Gregory Bowlden have each been charged with one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and one count of aggravated assault, Matteucci said. In addition, each officer has been charged with violating their oath of office.

The incident began when a 911 caller reported a naked man walking outside of the festival, the newspaper previously reported. Body camera footage shows the man, later identified as Rodriguez, walking in the middle of the road, confused and uncooperative but not combative.

The officers yelled at him to stop and when Rodriguez continued walking, one of the officers stunned him with a Taser, the footage showed. Rodriguez then fell to his back in the street. Footage also showed the officers repeatedly tell him to roll over, then stun Rodriguez several more times when he does not comply.

The officers eventually forced him to roll over, and multiple officers knelt on his arms, neck and back to keep him restrained, according to authorities.

In a wrongful death suit filed by Rodriguez’s family, the lawsuit contends the officers should have given the man medical aid instead of continuing to restrain him. Instead, the lawsuit said, they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Rodriguez’s family ultimately accepted a $3 million settlement from the Hampton Police Department. The family is still pursuing legal action against the Henry County Police Department, the newspaper reported.

Rodriguez died in a hospital two days after the incident. His death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner.

Oregon
Man shot by federal officers during Portland protests sues
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man who was protesting outside the federal courthouse in Portland when a federal law enforcement officer shot him in the face with a “less lethal” impact munition, is suing in federal court.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the lawsuit filed by Donavan LaBella calls the unnamed officer’s actions “unprovoked, unjustifiable, and unlawful.”

LaBella’s injury on July 11, 2020, was captured on video and shared widely. The video depicts then 26-year-old LaBella holding a speaker over his head, pointed at the courthouse. Federal officers turn on a bright light and then an officer fires a less lethal munition striking LaBella.

Like other protesters who have tried suing federal law enforcement agencies over injuries at protests for racial justice, LaBella’s attorneys have struggled to identify the officers.

The lawsuit names “John Does 1-10” as unknown federal law enforcement officers, believed to be with the U.S. Marshals Service, present or responsible for shooting LaBella.

Desiree LaBella, Donavan’s mother, said Thursday that the people responsible for injuring her son need to be held accountable.

“As much as we wish it didn’t have to come to this, he’s irreparably damaged,” she said.

He now suffers from a debilitating and permanent frontal lobe brain injury which has negatively altered the course of (his) life,” the lawsuit states.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also conducting a criminal investigation of the incident.