Global Courant 2023-05-05 23:14:40
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb on Friday asked a federal prosecutor to explain the Justice Department’s handling of a felony case against a Jan. 6 defendant who admitted he had “scuffles” with officers at the Capitol, including an officer who later died. by suicide.
David Walls-Kaufman, a resident of Washington, D.C., was scheduled to be sentenced Friday, but Cobb postponed sentencing after receiving information from the officer’s family. The family is pursuing a civil suit accusing Walls-Kaufman of assault and playing a role in the death of Jeffrey Smith, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who committed suicide following the January 6 attack. Cobb asked the department on Friday for their opinion on the evidence of the alleged attack, noting that he was only charged with a felony.
Walls-Kaufman, who lived a block from the U.S. Capitol and told investigators he previously worked for a congressional committee, was arrested in June 2022 and charged with four counts. His arrest came after he was identified by the “Incendiary hunters“Online sleuths who collected evidence from the January 6 attack, and after Walls-Kaufman was sued by Smith’s widow.
David Walls-Kaufman at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.DOJ
from Officer Smith camera images worn on the body, which was released due to the civil suit, appeared to confirm that Walls-Kaufman grabbed Smith’s baton during a Jan. 6 scuffle, and that Smith appeared shaken afterward. The footage also showed Smith being hit separately later that night by a flying metal object that an unknown person threw at the police line as police attempted to clear the west front of the Capitol.
Smith’s widow said the deceased officer was a different person when he returned from duty after Jan. 6. He sought medical attention that night, but the police and fire clinic were overwhelmed and had to deal with dozens of officers injured that day. He died by suicide the day he returned to work. Last March, the DC Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board found that the injuries Smith sustained on January 6 were “sole and proximate cause,” and declared his death in the line of duty.
In January Walls-Kaufman pleaded guilty to a charge of “parading, demonstrating, or protesting in a Capitol building,” to give in in his agreed insult that he entered the Capitol through the rotunda doors on the east side of the building “shortly after they first broke through” and entered the office of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. There, prosecutors say video shows him disabling the lock on the top of a double door, allowing more rioters to flow in and out of the room where Pelosi was conducting conference calls. Muren-Kaufman, say the prosecutorssnapped a photo of a laptop Pelosi used for her Zoom calls shortly before another rioter grabbed it.
Walls-Kaufman soon went to the House chamber, where Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot when she jumped through a broken window leading to the Speaker’s Lobby from the floor of the House, as lawmakers evacuated. Walls-Kaufman admitted that he “got into a scuffle with officers” and had to leave the Capitol at about 2:57 p.m., about half an hour after entering the building.
DOJ identified David Walls-Kaufman struggling with police in this Jan. 6 CCTV footage.DOJ
Justice Department prosecutors asked 60 days in jail for Walls-Kaufman, who said he “minimized his behavior” and even claimed “he went to the Capitol to assist an elderly woman and man,” a story prosecutors called a “fanciful story” called.
They wrote that Walls-Kaufman was “slow to acknowledge and obey police officers’ orders to leave the building” and told one of the officers, “Get your goddamn hand off me.” They said Walls-Kaufman remained on the Capitol grounds for hours, until at least 5:37 p.m., when he was ordered to leave.
Walls-Kaufman also described a position as a ‘gopher’ on the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in 1980 or 1981, and as such stated that he was familiar with the Capitol and was just walking around trying to find a way out to come, a claim belied by his 30 minutes in the Capitol,” they wrote. During his FBI interview, they said, Walls-Kaufman “extensively discussed misinformation about the ‘stolen’ 2020 election.”
Smith’s family, and many online sleuths, believe that Walls-Kaufman’s behavior warrants more serious charges than a felony “parading.” Smith’s widow Erin Smith, in a letter to Judge Cobb, wrote that Walls-Kaufman “should be sentenced to serve the maximum amount of time in jail,” and wrote that Walls-Kaufman should have known about the rules about entering federal buildings as a D.C. resident.
“The scuffle between Walls-Kaufman and my husband can be viewed on Jeffrey’s body-worn camera, in addition to the injuries he sustained during the altercation, including fractures to his face and suborbital cavities, as well as the traumatic brain injuries and concussions, all referenced by Dr. Arden,” wrote Erin Smith. “When the body camera video was slowed down to frame-by-frame, Walls-Kaufman hit Jeffrey in the face at least twice with his own baton after mastering it in the Capitol. Walls-Kaufman is a trained martial artist and used his training for malicious conduct that day when he came into contact with the police.”
Erin Smith wrote that Walls-Kaufman chose to “make physical contact with police officers, including my husband, after entering a federal building and using his trained martial arts skills for evil.”
Judge Cobb, after receiving Erin Smith’s letter, wanted to hear more about the charges and decided against sentencing Walls-Kaufman Friday until she heard additional arguments.
“The case seems a little different than the case I thought I was leading up to when I took the plea,” Judge Cobb said in court Friday. “There’s a big difference between a scuffle … and an accusation that someone is using a baton to hit an officer.”
Assistant US attorney Jeffrey Kiok said in court Friday that the government believed “there was physical contact” between Jeffrey Smith and Walls-Kaufman, but said they did not believe there was enough evidence to make a conviction. for violence and to call it a scuffle. was a “deliberately chosen word.”
Kiok said the incident took place during a “very tense situation” and that Walls-Kaufman’s actions did not “rise to the level” of an indictment, and that it was not the government’s position that Smith was hit by the baton in Walls-Kaufman’s hands.
Judge Cobb said her role was to “search for the truth”, noting that she went through the video frame by frame. “I see (Walls-Kaufman’s) hands on the baton,” Cobb said. “I see Agent Smith fall forward.”
Attorney Hughie Hunt, representing Walls-Kaufman in his civil case, called the proceedings “conviction by ambush” and objected to allowing either Erin Smith or Jeffrey Smith’s father, Richard, to address the court , saying that they tried a lawsuit in a criminal case.
“What they’re trying to do is continue their civil case during sentencing,” Hunt said.
Kiok said the family would be allowed to speak in court, noting that Jeffrey Smith would be allowed to speak, if he were still alive.
“There are people who loved Jeffrey Smith who were touched by his passing,” Kiok said, noting that the story of what happened to the officer went beyond Walls-Kaufman.
Judge Cobb said it was a “unique situation” and noted that she could examine the video evidence herself and try to determine what happened and whether that would play a role in his sentencing.
“I just want to know factually if Mr. Kaufman hit anyone,” she said, noting that there is “a lot of variation in terms of what the final sentence will be,” from probation to six months in prison.
She set up another hearing for May 19, apologized to the Smith family for the delay, but said she was inclined to let Jeffrey Smith’s relatives speak at the next hearing.
