Photo provided Donald Moss, Elizabethtown, and James Link Behymer, shown circled in this photos, are shown entering the U.S. Capitol building.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday set a trial date for two Bartholomew County residents who have been accused of assaulting law enforcement officers and other charges stemming from their alleged roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan set a start date of Oct. 15 for an in-person jury trial for Donald Lee Moss of Elizabethtown and James Link Behymer of Hope in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., according to court filings.
Chutkan also is presiding over the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Moss and Behymer have pleaded not guilty to civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, according to a grand jury indictment unveiled earlier this year.
The two men were released on personal recognizance after appearing virtually for a status conference on Friday, according to court filings. Another status conference has been scheduled for Aug. 28.
Chutkan also gave Moss and Behymer the chance to change the status conference to a plea hearing, but they would have to notify the court in advance and appear in person for the hearing in Washington, D.C. Any plea paperwork would be due by Aug. 21, Chutkan said in court filings.
Federal prosecutors allege 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 cellphone 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.
Federal prosecutors also included images they claim are of the two men that were taken from officers’ body cameras and third-party footage.
The arrest of Moss and Behymer earlier this year raised 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 charges stemming from his role in storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
