(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In an assault on the First Amendment and the free press, a Washington DC jury has convicted journalist Stephen Horn of four misdemeanor charges stemming from his reporting of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest-turned-riot.
According to journalist Steve Baker, the jury deliberated for about an hour on Monday before finding Horn guilty of entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct, violent entry, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol.
As Headline USA has reported, Horn, by all accounts, was engaging in purely journalistic activities on Jan. 6. The FBI received a tip from someone that identified Horn as a journalist, and charging documents describe him as acting entirely peacefully.
Headline USA understands there are more than 20 other reporters who, like Horn, entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, but aren’t facing charges. Headline USA reviewed some of their names, but is withholding them so they won’t be targeted, too.
In an interview with Headline USA in June, Horn recounted the events leading up to and following the infamous protest in Washington DC, which was the first Trump rally of the 24-year-old’s career.
He also provided examples of his earlier work, as well as reference letters, emails and other records supporting his claim to being a legitimate journalist—and not the pro-Trump activist that government has portrayed him as. To the contrary, he describes himself as a conservative but at no point a Trump supporter.
Horn used the footage he obtained on J6 to produce a documentary, which can be found here.
The journalist had refused a deal offered by the U.S. government to receive probation in exchange for his guilty plea.
“They wanted me to admit I was there ‘protesting, picketing or demonstrating.’ I was like, ‘Well I can’t really do that because I wasn’t protesting, I wasn’t picketing and I wasn’t parading,’” he told Headline USA in June.
“Obviously, I can’t sign a document saying I did these things when I didn’t.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
