Yellville man’s Capitol riot case delayed until November

The case of a Capitol-breach defendant from Arkansas has been continued for another two months.

Jon Thomas Mott, 38, of Yellville, was scheduled for a status hearing next week, but U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth canceled that hearing and scheduled one for Nov. 22 instead.

Lamberth, of the District of Columbia federal court, issued the order late Friday after prosecutors requested it in an uncontested motion on Thursday.

Mott is charged with four misdemeanors in connection with the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. He pleaded innocent and is free pending trial.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Graciela R. Lindberg filed a motion Thursday requesting a 60-day continuance.

“The government made its request to assure that both parties are accorded the reasonable time necessary for effective trial preparation, given the government’s unprecedented discovery obligations and the due diligence the government is exercising to comply with those obligations,” she wrote.

There are thousands of hours of video footage and thousands of investigative documents regarding hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants.

“The Capitol Attack is likely the most complex investigation ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” Lindberg wrote. “Developing a system for storing and searching, producing and/or making available voluminous materials accumulated across hundreds of investigations, and ensuring that such system will be workable for both the government and defense, will take time.”

It will take time to load, process, search and review the discovery materials, according to Lindberg.

“Further adding to production and review times, certain sensitive materials may require redaction or restrictions on dissemination, and other materials may need to be filtered for potentially privileged information before they can be reviewed by the prosecution,” she wrote.

Mott has been charged with violating:

■ 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) Entering and remaining in a restricted building.

■ 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building.

■ 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) Violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

■ 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) Parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Two other Arkansans — Richard “Bigo” Barnett of Gravette and Peter Francis Stager of Conway — are also charged in connection with the Capitol riot. Unlike Mott, Barnett and Stager face felony charges in addition to misdemeanors.

Barnett is charged with carrying a dangerous weapon — a stun gun — into the Capitol and into the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where he posed for photos with his foot on a desk. Barnett was released from jail in April pending trial.

Stager is charged with assault in the beating of a Metropolitan Police officer with a flagpole outside the Capitol. He remains in jail in D.C.

Stager and other defendants in his case have a teleconference status hearing scheduled for Thursday.

A status conference is scheduled in Barnett’s case for Nov. 23. No trial date has been scheduled in any of the three cases.