FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols denied an Arkansas man's request to delay his Jan. 6 Capitol riot sentencing over hopes of a Trump pardon.
Nathan Earl Hughes pleaded guilty to crimes committed during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack earlier this year and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 16.
However, on Nov. 11, attorneys on behalf of Hughes filed a motion asking the judge to postpone his upcoming sentencing hearing because of the "high possibility" of Donald Trump pardoning him after he is inaugurated in January.
The former president has repeatedly vowed to take such actions for defendants charged in connection with the Capitol attack.
Hughes pleaded guilty to one count of civil disorder, one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding an officer, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
FBI officials said in their investigation that Hughes was seen in security footage pushing against Capitol police, removing their riot shields and passing them back to other rioters.
In the motion, Hughes' attorney William L. Shipley, Jr. argued that the Justice Department's recent decision to delay proceedings in the criminal case against Trump himself sets a precedent that should apply to Hughes as well.
"Given the position now taken by the Department of Justice through Special Counsel Jack Smith, directly supervised by Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice in this case, in the interests of justice, should adopt the same position as it has in United States v. Trump," Shipley wrote.
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