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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Capitol rioter jailed for shoving cops wants detention-hearing redo

Brian Mock told a federal judge that he hasn’t been properly represented, and has evidence of FBI misconduct that he is “excited” to bring forward. 

WASHINGTON (CN) — A Minnesota man who boasted about assaulting police officers at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot represented himself at a hearing on Tuesday, asserting that he is languishing in jail and wants a new detention hearing. 

“Nobody wants to sit in jail any longer than they need to,” Brian Mock told U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg. “I never should’ve been here in the first place.”

Mock, 42, was prepared to die and leave his four children behind when he and his girlfriend boarded a flight to Washington in early January. 

“I went to the Capitol not knowing what to expect but said goodbye to my 4 children, not sure if I was going to come home. I was at peace with that knowledge,” Mock wrote on Facebook. “I held my own and then some when I watched Capitol police beating women and old men. When faced with real men, free men, brave men, they fled with fear and tears in their eyes.”

While at the Capitol, Mock shoved a police officer to the ground, aggressively yelled “Get out! Go!” to the officers and then shoved another officer to the ground — who later said that fall caused him excruciating pain. Mock then picked up riot shields that officers were using and passed them back to members of the crowd. 

“Teargassed 6 times, pepper sprayed, and mustard gassed at the end,” Mock’s girlfriend wrote on Facebook. “But we stayed true to being Patriots, marched to the Capitol and stormed the Frontline… no regrets… ashamed of the blue that harmed everyone there to stand for the cause.”

Several tipsters turned Mock and his girlfriend in.

“He is at home bragging about beating up cops and destroying property,” one of them told an FBI agent. Another told an agent that Mock bragged that he “beat the shit” out of a police officer. 

“Mock’s history combined with the present offense shows that he is willing to shove just about anybody within the wide range of people who fall between complete strangers and federal law enforcement officers,” prosecutors wrote in the complaint against Mock, referencing a 2010 incident in which Mock held a gun to three kids’ heads and aggressively shouted at them, then shoved a bystander who tried to help. 

He also threatened his girlfriend to “make her life hell” if she identified him to the police, prosecutors said. 

In June, Boasberg ordered Mock to be detained pending trial. 

A federal complaint against Capitol rioter Brian Mock shows photos that the Minnesota man posted to Facebook of himself in front of various Washington landmarks. (Image via Courthouse News)

Now, Mock claims that he hasn’t been properly represented by his public defender, and he's been unable to review discovery due to jail issues — a backlog that’s been complained about by several other defendants awaiting their trial from Washington jail cells. 

“Right now I don't think I've been defended the way that I've asked to be defended,” Mock said. “I've been in here almost 100 days. I'd like a fair detention to bring forward the evidence that I have. I'm more than happy to represent myself."

Boasberg reminded Mock multiple times that he couldn’t have a second detention hearing but could file a motion for bond review. The judge also advised Mock against representing himself.

Mock also claimed that he’s found preliminary evidence of FBI misconduct and conspiracy, and he’s excited to bring it to court when he gets more. 

“I have found flat-out lies, fraud,” Mock told Boasberg. “At this point I can't prove all of it. This is not me being crazy, not me being some extremist.”

Mock will join a growing number of defendants who participated in the Capitol riot who are unhappy with their public defenders or want to represent themselves. 

Boasberg scheduled a hearing for next week to talk about whether Mock needs a new lawyer, or can represent himself. 

Later on Tuesday, Andrew Hatley pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol, and will face up to six months in prison. 

The 34-year-old trucker from South Carolina wore a gas mask inside the Capitol, and later posted on Facebook: “It has come to my attention that there was someone who looks like me at the Capitol. I’d like to set the record straight. I don’t have that kind of motivation for lost causes. I just don’t care enough anymore, certainly not enough for all that.”

FBI agents found that Hatley was, in fact, the individual who went into the Capitol on Jan 6. 

“This seems to be the least bad option available,” he told Boasberg. “I appreciate the government putting me in a position where I can still work, my job is all I have.”

Follow Samantha Hawkins on Twitter

Categories / Criminal, National, Politics

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