Month: August 2023

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – A Georgia man was sentenced today on felony and misdemeanor charges for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

            William McCall Calhoun, Jr., 60, of Americus, Georgia, was ordered to serve 18 months in prison for obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, as well as entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Calhoun is a practicing attorney in the state of Georgia.

            U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich heard the case in a bench trial and delivered her verdict on March 21, 2023, in the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Friedrich ordered Calhoun to serve 24 months of supervised release and pay restitution of $2,000.

            According to the government’s evidence, starting on Jan. 6, 2021, local and federal law enforcement received tips regarding an individual named McCall Calhoun, a practicing criminal defense attorney, who posted about his involvement in the Capitol Riot on Parler, Facebook, and Twitter. Prior to January 6th, Calhoun posted about certification of the electoral college vote and the importance of being physically present in Washington, D.C. on January 6th.

            Evidence shows that he attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6th, then made his way to the Capitol building. Calhoun walked up the West side of the Capitol grounds, continuing even as smoke rose from the crowd and people were affected by tear gas. As he approached the Senate Wing Door, Calhoun stated, “This is it. We’re storming the Capitol.”

            Calhoun entered through the broken Senate Wing Door as an alarm blared.  Calhoun walked through the Capitol, encountered a police line in the Crypt, and went back and forth from the Rotunda multiple times before ultimately leaving through the East side of the Capitol. One video depicts Calhoun amongst other rioters who pounded on doors and walls as they passed by members’ offices. Calhoun stated in the video that they were “looking for people.” Calhoun ultimately made it to the outside of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Office.

            Later on the 6th, Calhoun posted on Facebook: “Today the American People proved we have the power. We physically took control of the Capitol building in a hand to hand hostile takeover. We occupied the Capitol and shut down the Government – we shut down their stolen election shenanigans . . .”

            Calhoun was arrested on Jan. 15, 2021, in Macon, Georgia.

            The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Valuable assistance was provided by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

            The case was investigated by the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Source: United States Department of Justice News

            WASHINGTON – Justin Taylor, 23, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 108 months in prison for sexual assaults in two separate cases, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Acting Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department. Taylor pleaded guilty in one case on September 9, 2022, to third degree sexual abuse; and pleaded guilty today in the other case to one count of second degree child sexual abuse.  He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

            According to the government’s evidence, shortly after 9:00 a.m. on January 26, 2022, in the 500 block of 42nd Street, N.E., the defendant followed a 15-year old girl he didn’t know as she was walking to school. As the two of them were walking down a path in a park at that location, the defendant asked the victim if she had ever seen a man’s genitals. When the victim turned around, Taylor was exposing himself and asked the victim whether she wanted to “do something?” The victim began to run away but tripped and fell. Before she could get up, the defendant, still exposed, ran up and grabbed her buttock with his hand, through her clothing, again asking, “Do you wanna do something?” The victim yelled at the defendant, “No. Don’t touch me,” swung her fist at the defendant, and escaped to a friend’s home, where she reported the sexual assault to her friend and her friend’s mother.

            Two days later, in the early afternoon of January 28, 2022, Taylor followed an adult woman he didn’t know down the street-level escalator at the Shaw/Howard University Metro Train Station, located at 1801 7th Street, N.W. When Taylor and the victim got to the bottom of that escalator, the defendant grabbed the victim from behind and by surprise, holding her around the waist so that she could not get away from him. Taylor, while restraining the woman, pressed his penis against the victim’s buttocks. The woman fought back and hollered for help until she was able to escape Taylor’s grasp. Taylor fled up the Metro escalator, left the area and got on a Metro bus. Shortly thereafter, Metro Transit Police removed Taylor from that bus and brought him back to an area near the Metro Station, where the victim identified him as the person who had assaulted her. Taylor was then arrested.

            In 2018, Taylor was charged in a similar case and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted third-degree sexual abuse with force.  He was sentenced to 18 months in prison but was given the benefit of sentencing under the Youth Rehabilitation Act (“YRA”), which he will lose as a result of today’s convictions.  He was also sentenced in that case to seven years of supervised release and was, in fact, released from prison less than three months before committing these offenses. 

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Acting Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the cases at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Garcia Clarke, former Paralegal Specialist Brenda Williams, Victim/Witness Advocate Veronica Vaughan and Supervisory Victim/Witness Advocate Roderick Johnson.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Taylor, who investigated and prosecuted the case.