Trial Information

TIMELINE OF EVENTS (ARREST, TRIAL, SENTENCING)

Tom was arrested on January 19, 2021 and thrown into jail that day for crimes he did not commit.  He was incarcerated at the Central Virginial Regional Jail in Orange, VA for 53 days (49 of them spent in solitary confinement) before he was released to home confinement on March 12, 2021.

Tom was a defendant in the first Oath Keepers trial (although Tom has never been a member of the Oath Keepers) which occurred Oct – Nov 2022.

Below is a summary of the trial results and the significant events which occurred from the conclusion of Tom’s trial to the day Tom was sentenced on January 10, 2025.

October 2022 – May 2023   

Tom endured a 10 week long jury trial in Washington, D.C. in Oct – Nov 2022, along with four other defendants.  He was charged with the following five felonies: 

• Seditious Conspiracy
• Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding
• Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting
• Conspiracy to Prevent an Officer from Discharging Any Duties
• Tampering with Documents or Proceedings

Thankfully, Tom was found NOT GUILTY of all three Conspiracy charges.  Inexplicably, he was found guilty of the two lesser charges. 

While we are very grateful for the service and sacrifice of the members of the jury during a long and (in our opinion, unnecessarily complicated) 10 week trial (UGH!), Tom is innocent of ALL charges.

THE SIMPLE TRUTH: On January 6th, 2021, Tom went to listen to President Trump speak at the White House Ellipse area with his wife (they were enjoying a husband and wife day together – just the two of them), then walked to the west side of the U.S. Capitol where they rested at the Peace Monument (not on Capitol grounds) for over an hour.  After Congress was evacuated from the Capitol, Tom and his wife walked onto the inaugural balcony to take selfies (along with hundreds of peaceful Americans charged with NO crimes).  After about 5 minutes on the balcony, peacefully taking photos and chanting “USA, USA, USA” – they LEFT.  They left the Capitol area and left Washington, D.C.  THAT’S IT.  PERIOD. That’s all there really is to the story…

All the other ‘stuff’ Tom is alleged to have done or said is just that – extraneous stuff – which has been misconstrued, misrepresented, and has nothing to do with reality.  It has only served to obfuscate the truth.

Tom is an innocent man whose only “crime” appears to be that he was acquainted with two people who (unbeknownst to him until January 7th, 2021) went inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

FOR MORE FACTS AND INFORMATION REGARDING TOM’S CASE:
Please refer to Mr. David Fischer’s Opening Arguments, as well as his arguments in our Motion for Judgement of Acquittal. 

May 2023 – Sep 2023

On May 22, 2023, the judge in Tom’s case held a hearing to discuss our Motion for Judgement of Acquittal (MJOA), also known as a Rule 29 Motion.  We argued at this hearing that Tom should be acquitted of his two remaining charges.  At the end of the hearing, the judge indicated that he had a lot to consider and vacated Tom’s sentencing (originally scheduled for May 24, 2023).

On September 19, 2023, the judge ruled on our MJOA and denied it.

To further explain the Court’s Rule 29 (or MJOA) ruling:

• The Court had to decide whether the government put forth sufficient evidence that a “rational jury” could have lawfully found Tom guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  This is a very easy standard for the prosecutor to meet, because “all inferences and credibility determinations” must be viewed “in the light most favorable to the prosecution.”

• Example:  Donald Trump is charged with sexually assaulting Jane Doe.  Jane Doe is the only witness for the prosecution.  Jane Doe accuses Trump of sexually assaulting her but has to admit, on cross examination, that she has lied about being sexually assaulted on 5 prior occasions and that she changed her surname from “Pinocchio” to “Doe” last year. The jury convicts.  Even if the Judge believes that the jury got it wrong, the Judge cannot upset the verdict.
• The very fact that the judge in Tom’s case took so long to consider the Rule 29 motion suggests that the evidence was not strong.  However, his hands were tied because he is not allowed to overturn a jury’s verdict except in the most blatant cases of evidence insufficiency (we believe Tom’s case qualified).

June 28, 2024

On this date, the Supreme Court ruled that the DOJ had interpreted the charge of “Obstruction of an Official Proceeding” (also known as 1512(c)(2)) too broadly in an attempt to use this felony charge against January 6th defendants. (The Supreme Court ruled that this charge has to do with “evidence tampering” – for example, shredding documents – and NOT First Amendment-protected freedom of expression, and the right to peaceably assemble and petition our government).

This SCOTUS decision required the Government to dismiss the obstruction charge against Tom. So, essentially, Tom had been accused of violating a non-existent crime.

Therefore, Tom had one felony charge remaining: Tampering with Evidence. The bottom line for Tom regarding this charge is this: The DOJ alleges that Tom deleted eleven (11) photos from one Facebook Messenger conversation in an attempt to “hide” these photos from a grand jury investigation Tom knew nothing about. (The photos show no violence or any type of “felony” behavior. They are selfies, crowd photos, etc. and the ORIGINALS are still on Tom’s phone, which were ALWAYS available to FBI & grand jury investigations).

Tom’s attorney, Mr. David Fischer, then submitted a motion to the judge (read it here) in Tom’s case to reconsider our Motion for Judgement of Acquittal for Tom’s only remaining J6 charge. 

January 10, 2025

The judge in Tom’s case held a hearing to rule on our reconsideration of our Motion for Judgement of Acquittal.  After arguments, the judge denied our Motion for Judgement of Acquittal but characterized our request to acquit Tom of this charge as a “close case.”  The evidence the government put forth to uphold the guilty verdict on this charge was weak.

After this, the judge held a sentencing hearing to determine Tom’s sentence for his “Tampering with Evidence” conviction (allegedly deleting eleven J6 photos from Facebook). For this one charge, the DOJ was asking for four (4) years of imprisonment for Tom!!  Seriously???

Well, thankfully, the judge was quite a bit more reasonable and sentenced Tom to time served (the 53 days he had already spent in a Virginia jail upon his initial arrest) and that’s it!!  Tom also was ordered to pay a $100 fee / assessment which all defendants pay.  Tom received no probation, no supervised release, no fines, no restitution. 

So, after 53 tortuous days in jail, over 9 months of strict home confinement, about three years wearing an ankle monitor, about 3+ years of being denied access to the internet and not allowed to use a cell phone, the judge in Tom’s case sentenced Tom to ‘time served’ (his 53 days of incarceration following his initial arrest for crimes Tom did not commit).

This was for being convicted of the “Crime of the Century” (allegedly deleting eleven photos from Facebook).   

After all the pain and suffering of the last four years, Tom was punished less severely than a speeder in traffic court.

January 20, 2025

While almost all J6 defendants received full pardons on this day via an Executive Order signed by President Trump, Tom did not receive a pardon. Tom’s sentence (his time served sentence of 53 days) was commuted. However, President Trump stated that they would be doing further research on the cases of those that received commutations, and that pardons may be forthcoming in those cases.

March 20, 2025

President Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon for Tom!