A federal judge on June 7 agreed to dismiss a charge against a defendant in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, threw out the charge that Edward Jacob Lang, the defendant, obstructed an official proceeding before Congress.
The charges carry up to 20 years in prison.
Steven Metcalf, a lawyer for Lang, had argued in a recent filing that the defendant’s actions did not meet the definition of the law that he allegedly violated.
The law prohibits interfering with an official proceeding through intimidation against a person or other means. Lang was charged with the portion that states a person is committing a crime if they “otherwise obstruct, influence, or impede and official proceeding, or attempt to do so.”…