Yoga instructor to represent himself in court as he faces conspiracy charges for Jan. 6 Capitol riot

On Tuesday, NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane flagged a court document indicating that Alan Hostetter, a yoga instructor and former California police chief accused of criminal conspiracy, will represent himself in court.

According to federal prosecutors, Hostetter, who once ran a small police department in northern Orange County, used the American Phoenix Project, a tax-exempt charity for "human rights and civil rights," to promote violence and spread far-right conspiracy theories, including that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. Through the charity, he held a "Stop the Steal" rally in Huntington Beach in December, where he said, "There must be long prison terms, while execution is the just punishment for the ringleaders of this coup."

A key partner of Hostetter in this enterprise was Russell Taylor, an anti-mask activist who is accused of leading a group of "armed fighters" directly into the Capitol.

Hostetter is not the only January 6 defendant to act as their own attorney. Another is Pauline Bauer, a member of the so-called "sovereign citizen" movement that does not recognize the United States as a legitimate government. Bauer has told the judge presiding over her case that the court has "no dominion over a living soul."