First Capitol riot trial opens in D.C.
Nearly 14 months after a mob stormed the Capitol and threatened the certification of Joe Bidens win in the presidential race, jury selection opened Monday for the first trial of one of the more than 750 people charged in connection with the attack.
A little after 9:30 a.m., potential jurors began filing into the cavernous ceremonial courtroom at U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where Guy Reffitt, 49, a Texas oil rig worker, is set to face five felony counts, including civil disorder, seeking to obstruct the Electoral College count, carrying a firearm into a restricted area and obstruction of justice.
Jury selection is expected to be a tedious process due to the widespread press and public attention to the Capitol riot, which caused disruptions in much of official Washington and led to a large portion of Capitol Hill being barricaded for months.
Judge Dabney Friedrich, who is presiding over the trial, began the proceedings Monday by rejecting a motion by media organizations for in-person access to testimony at Reffitt's trial. Ruling from the bench, Friedrich said the extensive precautions the court has put in place to address coronavirus concerns make it impractical to allow even a single press representative or member of Reffitt's family to observe the trial directly.
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