WASHINGTON — A federal judge has granted a request from prosecutors for a speedy trial against two Bartholomew County residents who were arrested earlier this month and charged with assaulting law enforcement officers and storming the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather granted an oral motion from federal prosecutors on Tuesday for a speedy trial against Donald Lee Moss, 62, of Elizabethtown and James Link Behymer, 61, of Hope, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
However, Meriweather ruled out setting a trial date before mid-June “in the interest of justice” and scheduled a preliminary status hearing on June 18, court filings state.
Moss and Behymer were arrested earlier this month on felony and misdemeanor charges, including assaulting law enforcement while a violent mob loyal to former President Donald Trump forced its way inside the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The two men made their first appearance in the District of Columbia on Tuesday via videoconference. Meriweather granted requests from both of them to appoint defense counsel.
Moss and Behymer were released on personal recognizance following the hearing. They had previously been placed on pretrial release by another judge earlier this month.
Under the terms of the release, the two men cannot leave the Southern District of Indiana unless authorized by federal authorities and are barred from possessing firearms and consuming alcohol, among other conditions.
Moss and Behymer are currently facing six criminal charges including assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building or grounds, according to the criminal complaint.
The complaint alleges that Moss and Behymer were part of a group of “angry and violent rioters” who descended upon and assaulted D.C. Metropolitan police officers near the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol who were attempting to keep them from breaching the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal authorities said in the complaint they were able to identify the two Bartholomew County men through cell phone records — including a cellphone number with an 812 area code that connected to a cell site that provided service inside the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection — as well as a witness described as “longtime associate of Moss and Behymer” who identified the two defendants after being shown still images.
The arrest of Moss and Behymer this week raises the total number of current and former Bartholomew County residents who have faced criminal charges over their alleged roles in the deadly insurrection to three.
In April 2021, former Columbus resident and heavy metal musician Jon Schaffer pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
