A famous attorney for representing alleged Capitol rioters is taking over as Jacob Chansley's lawyer and may try to appeal his conviction and sentence for breaching the Capitol building.
A protester is in the Capitol building.
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Papers filed in federal court Monday indicate that John Pierce will be Chansley's counsel.
According to the NCLU, Albert Watkins no longer represents Chansley, and that the lawyer who represented him during his plea agreement is now working with Pierce.
They will be pursuing all remedies available to them under the law, including possibly appealing his sentence and claiming that he had ineffective assistance of counsel.
He didn't specify what grounds he would argue Watkins was ineffective.
Watkins is still listed as an attorney for Chansley in federal court records despite the apparent change.
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When Chansley pleaded guilty in September, his plea agreement said he could still file an appeal on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel.
The key background.
Chansley entered the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 with a horned helmet and face paint. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison last week after pleading guilty to obstructing an official proceeding in September. Chansley has suffered from mental health issues, but prosecutors said he was the public face of the Capitol riot. Chansley stopped eating for more than a week earlier this year because his jail didn't serve the all-organic diet he says is mandated by his shamanistic religion, and Watkins suggested former President Donald Trump pardon his client. Many of the January 6 defendants have brain damage and are "fuck short-bus people", Watkins said in a Talking Points Memo interview.
At least 17 alleged Capitol rioters are represented by Pierce. In August, federal prosecutors handling the Capitol riot cases said they had lost contact with Pierce for over a week, and associates gave conflicting reasons for his sudden disappearance, but he came back and said he was hospitalized for 12 days for undisclosed reasons. Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with killing two people at a protest in Wisconsin last year, but he was acquitted of all charges last week, and he was fired by Pierce earlier this year.
Jacob Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his part in the Capitol Riot.
