The Department of Justice (DOJ) has withheld more than 8,000 hours of U.S. Capitol security video covering noon to 8 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, leaving criminal defendants without access to more than 60 percent of the footage turned over to the FBI, a federal court filing says.
William A. Pope of Topeka, Kansas, made that assertion in a June 1 filing with U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington.
Pope is defending himself against eight federal charges from his presence on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. He has for months been seeking more access to videos and other evidence that could be exculpatory in his case.
462,000 Hours Available
Pope said that after getting access to U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) closed-circuit television video through a House GOP committee, he discovered some security cameras were missing footage from 2–6 p.m. on Jan. 6.The system held by Congress includes as much as 462,000 hours of security video from more than 1,700 cameras from Dec. 27, 2020, through Jan. 7, 2021, he said.
The cameras are located throughout the Capitol Building interior, the Capitol Visitor Center, Senate and House office buildings, Capitol tunnels and subways, on the grounds outside, affixed to building exteriors and along various streets near the Capitol.
Pope has asked Contreras to compel the government to provide an inventory of USCP cameras and CCTV video.
“This is an issue because the government has previously withheld highly relevant CCTV cameras from discovery, only to announce later that they had suddenly discovered more cameras in their possession,” Pope wrote.
Thomas DiBiase, general counsel of Capitol Police, earlier provided a sworn statement to the court that USCP turned over “more than 14,000 hours” of CCTV to the FBI for the period of noon to 8 p.m. on Jan. 6.
Federal prosecutors have said they don’t have a full inventory of cameras and CCTV footage, Pope wrote in his filing.
“If the government does not even know what they have, the government is likely denying hundreds of January 6 defendants important exculpatory evidence,” he wrote. “This would be like the government sending an innocent man to death row because they were too lazy to test for the DNA that would exonerate him.
“This potential for depriving citizens of their liberties without due process makes it even more crucial for this court to compel the government to inventory all Capitol Police CCTV in their possession, and to produce it in discovery,” he said.
“It is unclear to the government how disclosing more discovery to criminal defendants than the government was required by law to provide constitutes a potential Brady [exculpatory evidence] violation,” Moran wrote in a May 25 filing.
“The government does not have a ‘full inventory’ of ‘all Capitol Police CCTV they have possessed,’ and the defendant provides no support for his claim that the government should be compelled to create such an inventory,” Moran said.
Pope has also petitioned Judge Contreras to modify the protective order or court seal on some Jan. 6 security footage and bodycam video so it can be released to the public.
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