WASHINGTON (CN) — A former U.S. Marine Corps major who clashed with police during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, faced a federal judge Monday to begin his bench trial.
Christopher Warnagiris, who was the first active-duty service member of the military to be charged in connection to the Capitol riot, faces nine charges, including felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting police officers.
Senior U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman presided over the trial, in which Warnagiris agreed to present his case before the Bill Clinton appointee alone, rather than face a jury of Washington residents.
At his arraignment in June 2021, Warnagiris pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting or resisting an officer, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct, physical violence and parading in the Capitol.
The Marine Corps decided to separate Warnagiris in December 2021 following his arrest in May 2021. Warnagiris was the first of five active-duty service members to be charged in connection with the riot. Three fellow Marines were each sentenced to probation, between one and four years. The fifth, an active-duty Navy sailor, was arrested in April 2023.
In his opening statement, Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Haag said Warnagiris was the first person to enter the Capitol through the East Rotunda doors and made his way to the House chamber doors. He only pulled back once injured but continued to resist officers for over an hour as they tried to clear the building.
According to video evidence presented in court Monday, Warnagiris entered through the East Rotunda doors after three rioters, who had already breached and entered the building elsewhere, clashed with a United States Capitol Police officer to open the doors.
Warnagiris was able to push his way in, where he boxed out a police officer to hold the door open and allow more rioters to stream inside the building, defying the officer’s orders to get out of the doorway.
Warnagiris’ defense attorney, Marina Medvin of Medvin Law, said that her client only came to the Capitol to watch and protest, but was pushed forward into the building by the crowd.
Medvin said that the evidence presented at trial would show her client was peaceful, helping both rioters and police officers who were crushed by the crowd. She added that during the incident with the officer at the Rotunda doors, other rioters struggled with the officer, not Warnagiris.
Video evidence presented on Monday showed Warnagiris making his way through the Rotunda toward the House chamber, pushing back a line of officers standing between the mob and the chambers, while members of Congress were still inside.
The crowd breached the line and made their way into the hallway leading to the main House chamber doors, where a group of five officers guarded the barricaded door, one with his pistol aimed at the doors. Two Republicans — Representative Troy Nehls of Texas and former Representative Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma — expressed their disappointment.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Nehls shouted.
Video taken by another rioter and presented in court Monday showed that Warnagiris made his way through the crowd, nearly reaching the doors before the group retreated from the hallway following the apparent use of pepper spray or a fire extinguisher.
Medvin made repeated objections to the use of these videos, including CCTV footage taken from inside the House chamber, arguing they were irrelevant to her client, who did not reach the doors.
Justice Department prosecutor Rebekah Lederer justified the inclusion of the videos, some of which only showed Warnagiris for a moment as a crowd member, as evidence supporting his civil disorder and obstruction charges.
Friedman agreed with Lederer, explaining that the videos show that Warnagiris had made his way deep into the building with the intent to obstruct the certification process.
He continued to resist police efforts to remove him from the building before finally being removed over an hour after he first entered.
Warnagiris was arrested in May 2021, while he was a member of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Staff Training program at Quantico in Northern Virginia.
During his service, he was deployed to the Middle East at least four times between 2004 and 2012, for which he received three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals. In 2013 he was promoted to the rank of field artillery officer.
The trial will continue throughout the week, with testimony expected Tuesday from the officer he struggled with at the Rotunda doors.
In the 38 months since the Capitol riot, more than 1,358 people have been charged for their actions. Approximately 859 people have received sentences, with 497 defendants being sentenced to prison terms.
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