WASHINGTON, DC (LOOTPRESS) — A former West Virginia legislator who participated in the January 6, 2021 rallies at the capitol has reached a plea agreement.
It took Republican Derrick Evans little more than a year to make the deal with the federal government.
Evans, who was elected to the House of Delegates from Wayne County in November 2020 has been sworn in but not had a chance to cast a House vote by January 6.
Evans became the target of jokes and ridicule because he proudly filmed himself entering the capitol building on January 6 and proclaimed “Derrick Evans is in the Capitol” by livestream.
Critics of the far right wing activist said Evans broke the law by entering a restricted area and then gave federal agents videotape of doing it. Some enemies said he would get significant prison time.
At first he downplayed the significance of the event but later said he was an independent newscaster working on a story. Days later, he resigned.
In the Thursday filing, a federal prosecutor wrote that the parties had struck a plea deal and asked Judge Royce C. Lamberth to set a plea agreement hearing this month.
“The parties have reached an agreement regarding pre-trial resolution of this case and need additional time to complete and submit the necessary paperwork,” Kathryn E. Fifield, a Justice Department trial attorney, wrote in the filing. “Counsel for the defendant respectfully requests a date on the court’s calendar for a change-of-plea hearing within the month of February as counsel for the defendant is in the process of retiring, but would like to handle any change-of-plea hearing.”
Details of the plea agreement were not immediately available. Evans was indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony charge which opened him up to a potentially lengthy sentence in federal prison. Evans had been scheduled to make a court appearance on Friday afternoon. An attorney for Evans did not immediately respond to a request for comment from media sources.