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Texas man pleads guilty to assaulting police officer on Jan. 6

Lucas Denney, 44, of Texas pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol after his case was lost in the system for nearly 90 days. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI
Lucas Denney, 44, of Texas pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol after his case was lost in the system for nearly 90 days. File Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

March 17 (UPI) -- A Texas man pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday after prosecutors lost track of his case for several months.

Lucas Denney, 44, was arrested in Kinney County, Texas, near the Mexican border on eight counts of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, assaulting police with a deadly weapon, engaging in physical violence and other charges, during the siege on the Capitol Building.

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Photographs from the Jan. 6 riot show Denney picking up a long plastic pipe and swinging it at an officer, which he admitted to in court Thursday.

He was also seen as part of a mob that pushed into the Capitol and a large crowd that grabbed officers that were fighting with rioters, including Washington, D.C., police officer Michael Fanone who was shocked with a taser and had a heart attack.

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Denney also created a militia in Texas called "Patriot Boys of North Texas," which he said was associated with the violent far-right group the Proud Boys.

Following his first appearance in court on Dec. 14, Denney was ordered to be held in jail until trial and was to be moved to Washington, D.C. for further proceedings but prosecutors lost track of him as he was moved from Texas to a jail in Virginia.

Prosecutors and Denney's attorneys attempted to schedule an initial appearance in D.C. but court officials did not place one on the docket until March 5, when Denney's lawyers filed an emergency motion to dismiss the case and for Denney to be released immediately.

A hearing was set for March 7 and prosecutors indicted him on one count of assaulting an officer that morning.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui expressed outrage at the fact that he went nearly 90 days without a hearing despite the law requiring defendants to have a preliminary hearing within 14 days following an arrest and be indicted within 30 days.

"Mr. Denney there's no excuse to treat a human being like that. It is not how I would want to be treated. And you are presumed innocent. There is no circumstance under which an accused person should be forgotten, and that is what happened here," Faruqui said, adding he would have ordered his release that day if prosecutors had not indicted him.

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Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Rozzoni of New Mexico said the indictment should be dismissed without prejudice, allowing it to be refiled, and said the harm in Denney's case was minimal and that preventing the government from refiling charges would be an excessive penalty.

Defense attorney William Shipley said he hoped the guilty plea would prevent the government from obtaining a grand jury indictment on the other charges Denney was arrested for.

"I don't put it past them to run to the grand jury again to try to once again escape the trap that they've built for themselves," Shipley said of prosecutors.

On Thursday the case moved to U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss, who warned Denney that since he was pleading guilty without a plea agreement the government could still choose to seek additional charges against him.

When asked by Moss, Rozzoni said the government had not yet decided whether to file more charges against Denney.

Denney ultimately stuck with the guilty plea as Shipley suggested the government may face double jeopardy issues in seeking to prosecute Denney again after pleading guilty to assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon.

The defense suggested sentencing guidelines of 41-51 months in prison while prosecutors asked for 57-71 months.

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President Joe Biden, members of Congress mark anniversary of Capitol attack

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,, speaks at a candlelight vigil on the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riots in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

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