Proud Boys member scrambles defense strategy after he becomes main character in Jan. 6 hearings
A Proud Boys member is scrambling his defense strategy after he became a main character in the House select committee's public hearings.
Joseph Biggs was identified by congressional investigators as a leading instigator of the violence on Jan. 6, and now he's asking a federal judge to move his trial to South Florida because his attorneys say potential jurors in Washington, D.C., might be more likely to have watched the public hearings on the insurrection, reported Politico.
“Apart from risk of prejudice that comes with Joseph Biggs’ name being mentioned four times in rapid succession up front on opening night of the House Select Committee’s hearings," wrote his attorney John Hull, "Biggs and his counsel respectfully submit that the above testimony alone by Officer Edwards in its totality is more than enough to justify a transfer of venue to Miami, Florida, as defendant [Enrique] Tarrio has urged."
Hull accused Capitol police officer Caroline Edwards, who identified Biggs and rioter Ryan Samsel as leading figures in the riot, of making up details in her public testimony, which the attorney described in the court filing as “canned, cagey and morally superior.”
“There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up,” Edwards testified. ”I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people’s blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos.”
Edwards testified that she heard Biggs taunting police and Congress through a megaphone and said that he directed the mob of Donald Trump supporters to become violent.
"Joseph Biggs’ rhetoric turned to the Capitol police," she said. "He started asking us questions like, ‘You didn’t miss a paycheck during the pandemic?’ … I know when I’m being turned into a villain. That’s when I turned to my sergeant and I stated the understatement of the century. I said, ‘Sarge, I think we’re going to need a few more people down here.’”
Biggs has been charged with seditious conspiracy along with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and fellow members Ethan Nordean, Zach Rehl and Dominic Pezzola after prosecutors said they played leading roles in organizing the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The Proud Boys leaders are scheduled to stand trial Aug. 8.
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