WASHINGTON — A former West Virginia legislator who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot has reached a plea deal.
Derrick Evans filmed himself entering the Capitol just a few weeks after he was sworn in as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Evans was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, just one day after the Capitol attack, and resigned from state government days later.
“Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!” Evans said as he recorded himself on a livestream, according to the FBI. "We're taking this country back whether you like it or not."
He continued: "Today's a test run. We're taking this country back."
In a filing on Thursday, a federal prosecutor wrote that the parties had struck a plea deal and asked Judge Royce C. Lamberth to set a plea agreement hearing this month.
"The parties have reached an agreement regarding pre-trial resolution of this case and need additional time to complete and submit the necessary paperwork," Kathryn E. Fifield, a Justice Department trial attorney, wrote in the filing. "Counsel for the defendant respectfully requests a date on the Court’s calendar for a change-of-plea hearing within the month of February as counsel for the defendant is in the process of retiring, but would like to handle any change-of-plea hearing."
The details of the plea agreement were not immediately available. Evans was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony charge which opened him up to a potentially lengthy sentence in federal prison. Evans had been scheduled to make a court appearance on Friday afternoon. An attorney for Evans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this week, the son of a New York judge who stormed the Capitol while dressed as a caveman pleaded guilty to one felony count of civil disorder.
The FBI has made more than 700 arrests in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when supporters of former President Trump tried to stop the certification of his electoral college loss.
