The first Capitol riot defendant has been acquitted and found not guilty of all charges. There are a number of pending cases that may have the same outcome. Like many people that day, he observed some things but didn’t do anything besides just walking in. His trial only took two days. Matthew Martin, a federal defense contractor from Santa Fe, New Mexico, walked free on Wednesday.
The Capitol protest took prisoners
Martin had lost his job and top security clearance as a result of trespassing the building. He could have lost more. Many others have for transgressing against the federal government.
He was arrested April 2021 and charged with a couple charges. There was entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and finally parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
He had taken leave to attend the rally
He testified before US District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden that he didn’t see everything that happened that day. Video showed things happening that he didn’t witness.
“I saw no violence,” he said to the judge. He thought he had permission to enter since he thought he saw a policeman motion for him to go in and nobody made an effort to stop him. Some people have never visited Washington DC and don’t know the protocol.
He should have seen the signs in the Capitol
Prosecutors said he should have known better based on signs saying “area closed” and seeing the mayhem. The judge himself couldn’t tell by the video whether the officer had motioned for Martin to go in or not.
McFadden thought Martin’s actions were “minimal and non-serious” and that he was just observing everything. He behaved as though he was a member of the media, just watching. It was a grey area as to whether Martin knew he was entering a restricted area or not.
The Capitol police were outnumbered
They might have been letting protestors in. It wasn’t proven that Martin had crossed any police lines before the mob breached the building.
Over 200 defendants have pleaded guilty to being at the Capitol at the time of the protest. A number of cases involved similar circumstances of not being stopped by police.
