A Mountain View resident’s plea hearing on criminal charges that he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol at the Jan. 6 rally in support of former President Trump has been rescheduled.
Shawn Bradley Witzemann was arrested in April 2021 and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds as well as disorderly and disruptive conduct. Witzemann subsequently signed a statement of offense on June 11, 2021, that was negotiated with assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Amore, which is now in dispute.
“The hearing was continued until Jan. 12, 2023,” Witzemann told the St. Louis Record. “I’ve retained new counsel that will be handling things from here on out.”
The government’s Sentencing Memorandum states that Witzemann's actions and those of his fellow rioters enabled the breach of the U.S. Capitol, threatened the lives of police officers, legislators, and their staff, and disrupted the certification vote for several hours.
But Witzemann argues he followed a crowd of protestors into the U.S. Capitol, that he was not violent, and had no intention of disrupting Congress.
“My hope was to provide a sincere statement of remorse for my confessed crimes on January 6th,” Witzemann said in Nov. 3 Allocution documents. “While that hope remains unchanged, I have identified multiple inaccuracies and unwarranted assertions in the government's sentencing memorandum.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, the plumber turned journalist is facing a minimum of six months in federal prison and restitution of $500.
While he is accused of making comments on social media that questioned the 2020 presidential election and being part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, Witzemann rebuts some of the statements in the Sentencing Memorandum
"In complete disregard for signed agreements on facts and the Statement of Offense, the government has made a reprehensible mischaracterization of my actions that day," he said.
The statements that Witzemann rebuts include the following.
On November 3, 2020, while referring to mail-in ballots, [Witzemann] falsely stated at least twice that ballots were being thrown away.
"The government’s claim that my statements on Nov. 3, 2020, are false is woefully under-informed and lacks necessary evidence to support their assertion," Witzemann wrote.
On December 16th, 2020, Witzemann increased his rhetoric stating: ‘This election was stolen. There is no 2024. I'm not waiting that long. Trump won this election. If we let it slide this time. That is the end.’
“It is beyond disturbing that the government would choose to disparage clear expressions of patriotism to the court,” Witzemann said.
On Dec. 20th, 2020, while referring to an upcoming trip to Washington DC, Witzemann stated: ‘True believers and people of action believe the Constitution is worth fighting for. The cops are going to have to make a choice.’
"When one looks at the condition the country has been placed in the aftermath, it shouldn't be hard to ascertain what I had alluded to when saying, 'If we let it slide this time. That is the end," Witzemann argues. "Thankfully, a majority of Americans have no interest in letting the matter rest and are rightfully concerned about election integrity."
He arrived in Washington D.C. on January 4, 2021, to attend a security briefing for the Sons of Liberty, a group from New Jersey that was there to support then-President Donald Trump.
“It is unclear why the government deemed it necessary to selectively mention a briefing that I did not attend," Witzemann stated.
Witzemann was part of the mob that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) had to contain and escort from the Rotunda.
“Publicly available bodycam footage shows that police were unclear as to what their orders were as they entered the Rotunda,” Witzemann added. “Therefore, any suggestion that MPD or others had a clear plan when they entered is extremely questionable.”