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January 6 trial: Ex-Capitol police officer 'betrayed' his oath by warning a rioter to delete Facebook posts, prosecutors say

Oct 19, 2022, 02:23 IST
Business Insider
Former Capitol police officer Michael Riley responded to a report of an explosive device on January 6, 2021.Tom Williams/Roll Call
  • Prosecutors accused a former Capitol police officer of telling a January 6 rioter to delete evidence.
  • The former officer, Michael Riley, gave the rioter a "heads up" about the January 6 investigation.
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On New Year's Day in 2021, then-Capitol police officer Michael Riley made a long-distance fishing buddy in the charter boat captain Jacob Hiles. While the two had never met, they were both avid anglers and connected on fishing-related Facebook groups.

Within days, they found themselves on opposite sides of the January 6 attack on the Capitol, as Hiles joined the pro-Trump mob that stormed the very building Riley was sworn to protect. But the following day, prosecutors say, Riley messaged Hiles directly over Facebook to urge him to remove posts — including selfies and videos — admitting his presence inside the Capitol.

On Tuesday, a year after Riley's indictment on charges he obstructed the January 6 investigation, his trial began at a federal courthouse just blocks from the Capitol.

In an opening statement, prosecutor Mary Dohrmannn told jurors that Riley "was sworn to enforce the laws and protect the Capitol building."

"But on January 7," a day after the attack on the Capitol, "the defendant betrayed that sworn oath," she added.

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A 25-year veteran of the Capitol police force, Riley resigned following his indictment in October 2021 and instantly emerged as one of the highest-profile defendants in the hundreds of prosecutions stemming from an investigation Justice Department officials have described as unprecedented.

"This criminal investigation was massive," Dohrmannn said Tuesday, "and it continues to this day."

Riley's trial will unfold against the backdrop of broader questions about sympathies within law enforcement for Capitol rioters.

In the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack, the Capitol Police said six officers had been suspended with pay and 29 others placed under investigation in connection with their conduct that day. The Capitol Police later recommended disciplinary action in six cases, without specifying the conduct at issue, but said the Justice Department "did not find sufficient evidence that any of the officers committed a crime."

"The six sustained cases should not diminish the heroic efforts of the United States Capitol Police officers. On January 6, the bravery and courage exhibited by the vast majority of our employees was inspiring," the Capitol Police said at the time.

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More recently, NBC News reported that a top FBI official received an email expressing concern that "there is, at best, a sizable percentage of the employee population that felt sympathetic to the group that stormed the Capitol."

Kicking off Riley's trial on Tuesday, Dohrmann displayed several messages Riley exchanged with Hiles over Facebook in the weeks after January 6. In his first direct communication with Hiles, she said, Riley sought to tip off Hiles to the nationwide manhunt for suspected participants in the January 6 attack.

"Hey Jake, im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance," Riley wrote to Hiles on January 7. "Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to be charged," Riley added. "Just looking out!"

The two went on to exchange messages about January 6, prosecutors said, with Hiles at one point sharing photos and video of himself inside the Capitol.

"I get it ... It was a total shitshow!!!" Riley messaged him. "Just wanted to give you a heads up."

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After Hiles was charged in connection with the Capitol riot, he spoke on the phone with Riley for 23 minutes, prosecutors said.

The FBI arrested Hiles on January 19, 2021, and interviewed him about his conduct at the Capitol, according to court records. The next day, Hiles told Riley he had turned himself in and said the FBI was "very curious that I had been speaking to you."

Riley then deleted his Facebook direct messages with the accused rioter, Dohrmannn said, "to avoid getting caught."

"You see, the defendant never wanted these Facebook messages to see the light of day," she said. "But we are going to show them to you."

On January 21, Riley ceased all contact with Hiles.

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In his own opening statement Tuesday, Riley's defense lawyer Christopher Macchiaroli argued that the former Capitol police officer stood accused of obstructing a grand jury that was "not even in existence on January 7." Riley, he said, "never intended to obstruct a grand jury," "never attempted to obstruct a grand jury," "and never, in fact, obstructed a grand jury."

Macchiaroli described Riley as a decorated former Capitol police officer who was "trusted to go to the scene where an explosive device was located" on January 6. He said Riley struck up the Facebook correspondence after seeing a post in which Hiles claimed that he entered the Capitol "through a door they funneled us to."

With that post, Macchiaroli said Hiles "duped" Riley into believing that his conduct on January 6 would not rise to the level of warranting criminal charges.

In court papers, prosecutors did not identify Hiles by name but instead referred to him as "Person 1." Hiles admitted to his involvement in the Capitol attack and was sentenced to two years of probation after prosecutors recommended that he avoid prison time.

Ahead of Hiles' sentencing, prosecutors pointed to Hiles' cooperation with the January 6 investigation and his testimony before a grand jury in October 2021 — shortly before Riley's indictment on obstruction charges. Despite Riley's encouragement to delete his Facebook messages, Hiles never removed them, allowing them to be used as evidence against the former Capitol police officer, Dohrmann said.

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"Absent Hiles' forthrightness, both in preserving records of communications by him and Riley, and in addressing sensitive inquiries from law enforcement, prosecution of Riley — a now-former U.S. Capitol Police Officer — may not have been possible," Dohrmann wrote in the sentencing recommendation.

On Tuesday, Dohrmann described the case against Riley as "simple."

"He was sworn to uphold the law," she said, "and instead he obstructed it."

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