DOJ Seeks to Jail Ray Epps for 6 Months for Jan. 6 Disorderly Conduct

Ray Epps speaks to police officers near a barricade on the west plaza of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to send James Ray Epps Sr. to jail for six months when he appears for sentencing Jan. 9 on one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The U.S. Department of Justice acknowledged in its 29-page sentencing memorandum that the Epps case stands alone among Jan. 6 prosecutions—not just for its lightning speed but also for the “compelling mitigating factors” that led to his pre-indictment plea deal in September 2023.

“Although Epps engaged in felonious conduct during the riot on January 6, his case includes a variety of distinctive and compelling mitigating factors, which led the government to exercise its prosecutorial discretion and offer Epps a pre-indictment misdemeanor plea resolution,” DOJ senior trial counsel Michael Gordon wrote in the sentencing memo.

Defense attorney Edward Ungvarsky said that Mr. Epps should serve no jail time, arguing that he has been deterred enough by the serious fallout from Jan. 6. That included threats to his life and property.

He blamed “right-wing political dramaturges” for Mr. Epps being “attacked, defamed, and vilified.”

Under a list of mitigating factors, Mr. Gordon asserted that Mr. Epps “has been the target of a false and widespread conspiracy theory that he was an undercover government agent on January 6.”

Other mitigating factors cited by Mr. Gordon included Mr. Epps calling the FBI on Jan. 8, 2021, to describe his actions two days prior, his cooperation with the FBI and the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee, and what the DOJ official describes as his efforts to de-escalate tensions between angry protesters and police.

A jail sentence is appropriate because of Mr. Epps’ efforts “to inspire and gather a crowd to storm the Capitol to protest the certification of the election,” Mr. Gordon wrote.

Mr. Epps has been the subject of intense online speculation for nearly three years because he was captured in multiple places on video urging protesters to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

FBI’s Most Wanted

His photograph was removed from the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page without explanation, fueling the fire of debate on why he hadn’t faced arrest or prosecution.

On Sept. 18, 2023, prosecutors charged Mr. Epps with one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a petty misdemeanor with a maximum six-month jail term.

On Sept. 21, 2023, Mr. Epps pleaded guilty to the charge. In mere days, the high-profile case was dispatched, a stark contrast to many Jan. 6 prosecutions that have stretched across nearly three years.

Sentencing in the case had been scheduled for Dec. 20, 2023, but Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted a continuance until 10 a.m. Jan. 9 at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C.

In his sentencing memo, Mr. Ungvarsky said Mr. Epps’ intention all along was for peaceful protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“Ray Epps understands the serious mistake he made when he joined others to attend the Stop the Steal Rally on January 6, 2021, and to encourage others to walk to the U.S. Capitol to continue to protest,” Mr. Ungvarsky wrote.

“At all times, Mr. Epps’ intent was that the protest would be peaceful and would be done peacefully,” Mr. Ungvarsky said. “Those were his words on January 5, and that was his intent on January 6.”

Late on Jan. 2, Mr. Ungvarsky filed a motion asking to shield under court seal the identifying information of persons mentioned in Mr. Epps’ forthcoming sentencing exhibits.

“For safety concerns, counsel has redacted the names and identifying information of persons who authored or are discussed in exhibits of sentencing letters and memoranda,” Mr. Ungvarsky wrote. “Documented prior harassment and threats provide a specific basis for this request in this case.”