A Gravette man pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges that he entered the U.S. Capitol with a dangerous weapon on Jan. 6.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett, 60, was indicted by a grand jury on seven counts in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot.
Barnett pleaded not guilty to all seven counts in a videoconference before U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper in the District of Columbia.
Carrying a stun-gun walking stick, Barnett entered House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, posed for pictures with his feet propped on a desk and took an envelope, according to court filings. He left behind a quarter and a note that read, “Nancy, Bigo was here, you b.”
Barnett’s behavior that day was “brazen, entitled, dangerous,” said Chief Judge Beryl Howell during a videoconference hearing Jan. 28.
Howell said Barnett was “one of the stars of this assault.”
“The government has presented overwhelming evidence that this defendant, Richard Barnett, enthusiastically participated in this act of assaulting the Capitol and disrupting the democratic process,” she said. “What happened on that day at the U.S. Capitol is criminal activity that is destined to go down in the history books of this country.”
Howell ruled that Barnett should remain in jail under trial, and all trials in the District of Columbia are postponed until after March 15 because of covid-19.
The seven charges Barnett faces in the indictment are:
18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2) and 18 U.S.C. 2; Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting
18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A); Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(2) and (b)(1)(A); Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2)(C); Entering and Remaining in Certain Rooms in a Capitol Building
40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2)(D); Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
40 U.S.C. 5104(e)(2)(G); Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
18 U.S.C. 641; Theft of Government Property (the envelope)
Based on court filings and hearings, investigators have yet to find the cellphone and stun gun Barnett had with him at the Capitol, but they did find the stun gun packaging at Barnett’s home. They also haven’t found Barnett’s firearms, which he had given to a friend the night before he turned himself in to the FBI on Jan. 8.
At the beginning of Friday’s hearing, Judge Cooper told Barnett that he would be handling the case from now on.
Barnett had a videoconference detention hearing before Magistrate Judge Erin L. Wiedemann in federal court in Fayetteville on Jan. 15. Wiedemann decided to release Barnett on bond to house arrest, but federal prosecutors worked into the night to get Howell to sign an order transferring Barnett to the District of Columbia instead. Barnett then had a detention hearing before Judge Howell on Jan. 28.
“You’ve already been before a couple of different judges,” Cooper told Barnett. “I know it can be somewhat confusing to navigate yourself through the system, but I’m sure that Mr. Siano has explained to you now that a grand jury has issued an indictment in this case, the case has been permanently assigned to me. So, under the circumstances, you’re stuck with me from here on out.”
Barnett said he understood.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole E. McClain told Cooper that she and Barnett’s attorney, Anthony Siano, agreed that they need about a month for discovery in the case before having another status hearing.
Barnett’s next court “status conference” is scheduled for March 4.