CLEVELAND — Hundreds have been arrested on federal charges in the year since the Jan. 6 riot inside the U.S. Capitol.
Amid a national pandemic that has slowed courts across the country, and a massive criminal investigation and evidence collection process, few cases have been resolved.
That list of defendants includes four Northeast Ohio residents who remain free on bond while their cases await disposition.
Stephen Ayres, 38, of Champion, Christine Priola, 49, of Willoughby, Clifford Mackrell, 20, of Wellington, and John Douglas Wright, 54, of Plain Township, are among 37 Ohio residents charged in the attack.
Priola was a teacher for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District when she was photographed inside the Capitol. She resigned the day after her arrest, which came when the photo of her inside the Capitol was released to the public. She’s accused of violent entry and unlawful activities and faces two years in prison.
Records show 37 of more than 700 people arrested that day and in the weeks and months afterward came from Ohio.
They're all supporters of former President Donald Trump, who made baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen and urged his supporters to protest the certification of the ballots that day.
An estimated 171 people have pleaded guilty to various charges, most receiving probation, others receiving prison terms of less than five years.
The cases are being heard in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.
Ayres, who posted a video of himself entering the Capitol that day, could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison for a series of offenses including obstructing an official proceeding.
Mackrell could receive up to 14 years in prison if convicted of assaulting a Capitol Police officer.
Wright has multiple counts in his federal indictment that could bring a potential 30-year prison stint. He is accused of posting a video threatening violence against officers the day before the riot.
“We are going to have to fight the blue tomorrow,” federal prosecutors allege Wright wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 5, 2021.
“It’s [expletive] wartime.”
Wright could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Noah Munyer of Akron, said his client is remorseful. His actions were similar to the hundreds of others who charged into the Capitol that day in an attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election.
What happened, he said, has come to symbolize the political divide engulfing the nation.
“I don't think you can separate Doug's actions from the climate that we live in,” he said. "I watched it on television and I was horrified just like everyone else.
“But a lot of people weren't horrified. A lot of people in this community, a lot people in every single town in America said, yeah -- that's a good idea. The issues that created this division are not gone.”
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