Behymer
WASHINGTON — A Bartholomew County man has agreed to plead guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Federal court records show that James Link Behymer of Hope signed a plea agreement with prosecutors on Aug. 16 in which he signaled that he would plead guilty to one of six criminal offenses he had been charged with and cooperate with law enforcement in an additional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack.
The plea agreement, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was only signed by Behymer. There was no record of co-defendant Donald Lee Moss of Elizabethtown signing a plea agreement.
According to a copy of the plea offer, Behymer agreed to plead guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer during the U.S. Capitol attack, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.
Beyhmer also agreed to cooperate with an additional investigation, including allowing law enforcement officials to review his social media accounts and posts in an around Jan. 6, 2021, and interview him regarding the events in and around the U.S. Capitol attack prior to sentencing.
Based on Beyhmer not having any prior felony convictions and that “the parties agree that (he) used violence or credible threats of violence in connection with the offense,” federal prosecutors calculated his sentencing guidelines to be 24 to 30 months in prison and a $10,000 to $95,000 fine, according to court records.
However, the court is not bound by the sentencing guidelines in the agreement and can “impose any sentence, up to and including the statutory maximum sentence,” the plea agreement states. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan is presiding over the case, as well as the criminal case against former President Donald Trump over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Federal prosecutors allege that Behymer and Moss 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.
As part of the plea deal, Behymer agreed that government’s accusations “fairly and accurately describes (his) actions” during the U.S. Capitol attack.
The complaint alleges that Moss and Behymer shoved officers’ arms away from them as the group of rioters “surged toward the surrounded MPD officers and began violently assaulting the officers.” The complaint further alleges that Behymer struck an officer in the wrist and later attempted to pry a baton out of an officer’s hand while stating, “Now I’m being soft, but I do want this pole.”
Moss, who at one point shouted, “This is our (expletive) house” while pointing at the Capitol, allegedly struck an officer’s arm and baton and forcefully pushed another police officer from behind during the attack, the complaint states.
The two Bartholomew County men made their way through the crowd and entered the U.S. Capitol and entered the Crypt, a vaulted space located underneath the Capitol Rotunda. They later exited the Capitol but reentered after rioters broke through a barricade set up by Capitol police at the Senate Wing doors.
After reentering, they returned to the Crypt and moved a sign that had been placed on a statute outside the Crypt’s entrance and put it on another statute before taking pictures of it, according to the complaint. On one side, the sign included the initials of the Chinese Communist Party with a circle and red line through it, while “America First” and “Never give up, never surrender” were written on the other side.
When the two men left the area, Moss took the sign with him and was allegedly captured in video footage carrying the sign inside the U.S. Capitol, as well as outside the building.
Moss has 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.
Moss is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday for a status conference. The judge had set a deadline of this past Wednesday for either of the defendants to file plea paperwork should they wish to change the status conference into a change-of-plea hearing.
Behymer and federal prosecutors filed a joint motion this week to schedule a change-of-plea hearing in September to give him time to arrange travel to Washington, D.C., and meet with his attorney.
