A U.S. federal judge on Thursday denied InfoWars host and right-wing conspiracy theorist Owen Shroyer’s attempt to dismiss the four charges against him in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.
Shroyer has been charged with four misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He has pleaded not guilty.
In December, Shroyer’s lawyer Norman Pattis argued that he was being prosecuted because of his political views, and also argued the Justice Department withheld video from a judge when they sought an arrest warrant that Pattis said proved Shroyer did not know he was on restricted grounds and that he tried to deescalate the crowd.
Judge Kelly rejected both arguments, saying that prosecutors had met the requirements to obtain an arrest warrant, and that Shroyer showed "little if any evidence" of selective prosecution.
"The government did not omit or withhold anything at all" Judge Kelly said during the hearing. In fact, Kelly said that videos of Shroyer show his group "marching over caution tape on the ground" while nearby police use crowd control measures like tear gas.
Shroyer also called into a news show in real time, Kelly said, and said the mob had "taken the Capitol" and that "we literally own these streets right now."
"There is no doubt in my mind that probable cause for an arrest existed here," Kelly said.
Kelly also rejected the idea that Shroyer was being prosecuted because of his political ideology, saying that the charges "did not turn on the content" of what he was saxjmtzywying, but rather by his actions of physically breaching the Capitol grounds.
Shroyer will be back in court in March.
Pattis told Kelly that the House select committee has been negotiating with several people around Shroyer, and that he needs time to consider potentially invoking his right against self-incrimination.
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A U.S. federal judge denied InfoWars host and right-wing conspiracy theorist Owen Shroyer’s attempt, pictured here, on November 12, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the four charges against him in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.(Amy Harris/Shutterstock/CNN)
