Cason Lucard admitted to Merkley’s office on January 6

A Pennsylvania man who arrived in Washington on January 6 with a friend, who claimed to not know the man’s last name, pleaded guilty to trespassing on the Capitol building.

Carson Lucard27 years old, admitted to the Chief District Judge of the United States Beryl Howell on Friday that he entered the Capitol illegally and without authorization as a Donald Trump supporters were forced to go inside to try to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 won the presidential election.

Lucard pleaded guilty Friday to a single count of protesting, marching and selling picnic goods on the Capitol.

Refusing to accept the plea, Lucard admitted that he had entered the Capitol building twice. He first arrived at around 2:50 p.m., more than 30 minutes after the original building had broken down, through a broken window at the Senate door. Once inside, he lingered in the lobby shouting and chasing police officers guarding the area before leaving around 3:05 pm.

Two minutes later, he came back, this time with his friend. Brian Stenz51. Lucard admits that he and Stenz walked past broken glass and an overturned cabinet before entering Sen’s office. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), The latter video sharing about the damage caused by crowds of people that day.

Lucard then goes to the Capitol crypt and takes a selfie with Stenz.

He also admitted that he traveled from Pennsylvania with Stenz, who pleaded guilty in November to the same charges of marching and picnicking to which Lucard pleaded guilty Friday.

In identifying Stenz as someone he had traveled with to Washington, Lucard solved at least one mystery related to January 6 before Howell, who in February. Sentencing Stenz was in prison, in solitary confinement at home, and on probation for breaking into the Capitol.

Lucard was a subject of discussion during Stenz’s hearing, although he was not identified by name. Stenz told investigators he traveled from Pennsylvania on January 6, attended Trump’s “Stop Theft” rally, joined the crowd at the Capitol, and entered the Capitol building safely. illegally, entered Merkley’s office with a friend of his daughter, and took a selfie with that friend while in the crypt. However, he said he did not know his friend’s last name.

Howell did not fully trust Stenz; she said she was “very skeptical” that Stenz was telling the truth to the FBI when he said he only knew his friend’s name.

Stenz said all he knows about his daughter’s friend is that he is, in Stenz’s words, a “big Trump” in his 20s.

In outlining Lucard’s potential punishment, Howell raised the issue of a “split sentence” in the cases on January 6. That’s where the defendants pleaded guilty to the charge of organizing the march and going on a picnic – the act itself is classified as a petty crime. Prosecutors have argued that judges should issue prison sentences and probation, while defense lawyers have argued that federal laws allow for convictions and probation, but not both. . To date, the judges in the DC district have not reached a consensus on the legal issue in question.

“I haven’t decided if it’s legal yet,” Howell said. “My other colleagues have. One had found split sentences correctly. One of my colleagues discovered that not so. ”

Howell set the verdict for June 24.

[Image via FBI court filing.]

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