(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) The DOJ is defiantly planning to move forward with the Jan. 6-related obstruction charges against defendants Don and Shawndale Chilcoat, even after the Supreme Court ruled that its broad interpretation of obstruction law was unlawful.
In June, the high court ruled that for prosecutors to pursue charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, they needed to demonstrate that the defendants impaired a document or evidence used in such a proceeding.
Prosecutors had previously claimed that merely disrupting the Jan. 6 certification of the 2020 election constituted an obstruction violation. Under the new court order, prosecutors began to drop charges related to the law.
Roughly 259 individuals had been charged with the obstruction violation, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years of imprisonment.
Enter the Chilcoat couple.
According to court documents reviewed by Headline USA, they were originally charged with counts of entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct, entering and remaining in the Gallery of Congress, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, parade, demonstrate or picket in the Capitol building and obstruction of any official proceeding.
In filings, prosecutors argued they had sufficient evidence to win a conviction against the Chilcoats.
“The government understands that the Court wants to have confidence that the facts here give rise to a triable case,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, according to WUSA-9.
“Through their conduct, the defendants demonstrated an intent to invade and occupy the Capitol building and to stop the certification of the electoral college vote,” the prosecutors added. “And, critically, they were aware that this proceeding involved records, documents, or other things—specifically, the electoral votes that Congress was to consider.”
The Chilcoats will likely head to trial in 2025.
