DOJ Attorney Kathryn Fifield told Judge Trevor McFadden on Friday that she will not have evidence ready against political prisoner Timothy Hale-Cusanelli until 2022 at the earliest.
Hale-Cusanelli did not even commit a violent crime. He has no criminal record.
His charges relate to trespassing, obstruction, and disorderly conduct.
Julie Kelly wrote about Timothy Hale-Cusanelli at American Greatness.
Judge Trevor McFadden told the far left DOJ attorney, “You would not arrest [someone] then gather evidence later. That’s not how this works.” McFadden then gave Fifield a November 9 trial date.
Hale has been in prison since January.
Julie Kelly at American Greatness reported:
During a status hearing Friday afternoon for Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, an Army reservist arrested on January 15 for his involvement in the January 6 protest in Washington, D.C., an assistant U.S. attorney admitted the government will not meet its discovery obligations for all Capitol defendants until early 2022.
Kathyrn Fifield, the lead attorney representing the Justice Department, informed Judge Trevor McFadden that the “incalculable” volume of video collected by the government related to the Capitol breach investigation will prevent defendants and their lawyers from accessing the full body of evidence against them for several more months. “No system exists to wrap its arms around [all this evidence],” Fifield told McFadden. This includes at least 14,000 hours of surveillance video plus thousands of hours of body-worn camera footage from law enforcement.
Fifield resisted setting a 2021 trial date for Hale; McFadden and Jonathan Crisp, Hale’s court-appointed attorney, told the government last month that unless a plea arrangement was agreed upon, a trial would be set for later this year because Hale already has been incarcerated for more than six months. “If we do set a trial date, the government cannot meet discovery obligations until early 2022. That’s a conservative estimate,” Fifield said.
Despite arresting more than 550 people since January 6, the government still has no platform for posting, sharing, and transferring digital evidence. “Due to the extraordinary nature of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Attack, the government anticipates that a large volume of materials may contain information relevant to this prosecution,” Fifield wrote in a July 14 filing. “These materials may include, but are not limited to, surveillance video, statements of similarly situated defendants, forensic searches of electronic devices and social media accounts of similarly situated defendants, and citizen tips. The government is working to develop a system that will facilitate access to these materials.”