Prosecutors in the case of Riley Williams, who broke into the U.S. Capitol and stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop during the Jan. 6 riots, want the court to know that she attended pro-Trump rallies featuring a white nationalist podcaster weeks before the Capitol riot, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Prosecutors plan to show Williams' attendance at rallies featuring Nick Fuentes and other evidence of her “extreme views” in the months leading up to riot.
"The documents said Ms. Williams, 25, of Mechanicsburg, wore a green 'I’m with Groyper' T-shirt when she helped push a mob past police officers who were trying to protect the Capitol on Jan. 6. The so-called Groyper army is a white supremacist group with leaders, including Mr. Fuentes, who attempt to 'normalize their ideology by aligning themselves with ‘Christianity’ and ‘traditional’ values ostensibly championed by the church,' according to the Anti-Defamation League," the Post-Gazette's report stated, adding that evidence of prior bad acts usually cannot be introduced to show a defendant’s propensity to commit similar crimes.
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“Namely, the defendant attended other rallies held in objection to the 2020 Presidential election…and even adopted imagery and beliefs associated with various movements hostile to the peaceful transfer of power," prosecutors said.
Williams has been under house arrest since Jan. 21, 2021, with specific court-approved exceptions for work, health care treatments, court appearances. She was also approved for two visits to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. She has been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; theft of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricting building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a capitol building.
Read the full report over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.