Good morning. Before jurors enter, a defense attorney for Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs is pushing for Judge Mehta to admit witness testimony from two individuals: Michael Nichols and Rico Lastarza. Defense attorney Stanley Woodward has said that these witnesses could tell the jury about an interaction they had and observed with a Capitol Police officer around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 6.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler objects to both saying neither have any connection tot he alleged conspiracy.
“We understand the defense wants to call these witnesses because they want to talk about the good reputation Oath Keepers had with U.S. Capitol Police,” Nestler said.
If they did that, then the DOJ would be forced to call in witnesses that could talk about the bad reputation the group had with police.
Here’s more of the back and forth:
All of this seemed to revolve only around Nichols, not Lestarza. It’s not yet clear whether Mehta will allow Lestarza to testify but he has granted the Justice Department’s request to deny Nichols from testifying.