The first trial for a Jan 6th insurrectionists starts on Feb 28th, and it’s going to be everything you would expect from a violent insurrectionist who refuses to cut a plea deal. It’s a shame there won’t be any cameras allowed in the courtroom because this insurrectionist — Guy Reffitt of Wylie, Texas — exemplifies all that we have come to know about Trump insurrectionists.
One Texas man is set to be the first of those to fight the charges at a trial by jury, testing the evidence uncovered by the Justice Department's sprawling investigation into the breach. And he will do so in the face of an unprecedented health crisis.
Guy Wesley Reffitt of Wylie, Texas — husband, father and alleged affiliate of the Three Percenters militia group — has been indicted on five counts. He's accused of transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun to Washington, D.C., and then carrying the handgun onto U.S. Capitol grounds, where he allegedly participated in the January 6 riot and threatened law enforcement officers. He's one of only a handful of defendants accused of carrying a firearm.
Emphasis is mine.
Get’s better:
In late December, a family member told the FBI that Reffitt was "'going to do some serious damage'' related to federal legislators in Washington, D.C.," according to government filings.
Once in the nation's capital, according to the government's memo in support of pretrial detention, Reffitt allegedly messaged that he was doing "recon" of the Capitol area and would "surveil the atmosphere for like-minded Patriots and see if we have enough marching with heat."
And after he allegedly participated in the Capitol attack, investigators say Reffitt then traveled back to Texas, where his two teenage children and wife live, and talked about his membership in the mob that overran the Capitol.
Reffitt allegedly told his son and daughter, "If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors...traitors get shot," according to conversations investigators had with Reffitt's spouse as described in court documents. "Reffitt's son took Reffitt's statements as a threat to his life," prosecutors wrote in another court filing.
"The defendant's son and the daughter…[will] testify that they spoke to the FBI when the FBI came to their home executing the search warrant. They'll talk about the defendant admitting that he came to the Capitol," Fredricksen, the former federal prosecutor, said. "And even more explosively, they will testify that they were threatened by the defendant that if they were to cooperate with the FBI that — as the indictment charges — that would make them traitors."
So a family member tried to tip off the FBI before Jan 6th. Reffitt went back home to brag about his exploits on Jan 6th to his wife and two teenage kids. Then, he threatened to kill them if they talked to the FBI.
Reffitt’s family will testify AGAINST him at the trial.
And his anti-social behavior and contempt for the government was on full display with his legal arguments on why he shouldn’t be held over for trial:
Reffitt pleaded not guilty to all five counts and has made a number of unsuccessful attempts to have some of the charges dismissed; he has claimed that the laws he is accused of breaking are "vague" and violate his constitutionally protected freedom of speech…
Reffitt has written a letter to the judge presiding over his trial, Dabney Friedrich, declaring that the idea that there were crimes committed at the Capitol on January 6 is a lie.
"When all the lies and hyperbole have been peeled away, the world will know the truth. There was no insurrection, no conspiracy, no sinister plan and no reason to think otherwise," Reffitt wrote.
The laws are “vague.” Anyway, they violate his protected right to violence — um — free speech. Besides, there was no insurrection on Jan 6th. It’s all a lie. Reffitt has also argued that his trial should be moved to east Texas because he cannnot get a fair trial in D.C.
The judge didn’t buy those so called arguments.
By the way, Reffitt promised this was only the beginning of political violence by folks like him:
"We took the Capital [sic] of the United States of America and we will do it again," Reffitt wrote to other members of the Texas Three Percenters, a militia movement, according to a prosecutors' filing.
Reffitt also bragged to TTP members that rioters had "thousands of weapons," but fired no rounds and "next time we will not be so cordial." In both messages to TTP members and his own family, he indicated that he had no plans to give up on winning "our country back."
"Actually what happened was only the preface of the book.… All that was just an example of what we could do without firing a shot," Reffitt told his family, according to court documents. "I'm not done yet. I got a lot more to do. That's the beginning."
Guy Reffitt, an alleged Capitol rioter, reportedly bragged about his participation and warned that he was not finished engaging in violence to take the country back.
While driving from Texas to Washington, D.C., on January 5, Reffitt allegedly discussed "dragging those people out of the Capitol by their ankles" and installing a new government with another TTP member. That, combined with other comments he made and his wearing of tactical gear, indicated that he didn't venture to D.C. with the desire to engage in "peaceful activity," according to prosecutors.
During the execution of a search warrant at his house, the FBI found five firearms, including two that he brought to D.C., plastic zip tie hand restraints and an unregistered silencer in a gun safe. He initially told the FBI it was a "fuel filter" for his car, but later admitted that it was a silencer that he attached to his firearm, according to court
His family must be so proud. Oh that’s right! They will testify against him.
I hope the government gets a conviction, and the judge throws away the key on Reffitt.