Jan. 21 (UPI) — A federal judge on Thursday denied a request by InfoWars host Owen Shroyer to dismiss four charges against him in connection with the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Shroyer has pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanors, including disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
His attorney, Norman Pattis, filed a motion to dismiss the counts against him, saying the U.S. Department of Justice failed to disclose video evidence to a magistrate judge and that he was the subject of “vindictive prosecution” due to his political views.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly denied Pattis’s motion, stating prosecutors met the requirements to obtain an arrest warrant and Shroyer produced “little if any evidence” of selective prosecution.
“The government did not omit or withhold anything at all,” Kelly said during the hearing.
Kelly also noted that the Justice Department had provided a link to the magistrate judge containing all publicly available video from the riots.
Additionally, he said Shroyer’s claim that he could not have known he was in a restricted area was contradicted by a pretrial diversion agreement he signed in 2019 that banned him from the Capitol after he disrupted a hearing during the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Screenshots from the Justice Department show Shroyer, who hosted “The War Room with Owen Shroyer,“ standing next to InfoWars founder Alex Jones and “Stop the Steal” rally organizer Ali Alexander in a restricted area of the Capitol near the inauguration stage.
During the riots, Shroyer called in to a news show and said the mob had “taken the Capitol,” adding 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.
Shroyer is set to appear in court again March 8.
