Criminal Justice
Georgia lawyer who bragged of shutting down ‘stolen election shenanigans’ is found guilty in Jan. 6 case
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A federal judge in Washington, D.C., found a Georgia criminal defense lawyer guilty of several charges Monday for entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and pounding on doors with other rioters before making it to outside the office of Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the District of Columbia found William McCall Calhoun Jr., 59, of Americus, Georgia, guilty of one felony and several misdemeanors for his actions, according to a March 21 press release from the Department of Justice.
She ruled after a two-day bench trial, according to Law360.
The felony charge was obstruction of an official proceeding. The misdemeanors were 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.
Prosecutors say Calhoun had posted this message on Facebook later Jan. 6: “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.”
The maximum penalty for the felony is 20 years in prison.
Calhoun had told WUSA in January 2022 that he had rejected a plea deal that included the felony charge.
“I know I didn’t commit a felony,” Calhoun told the broadcast station. Calhoun said he thought that he entered the Capitol in a “peaceful protest.”
He had told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in January 2021 that the people who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6 were “heroic” and “very patriotic.” He said his crime amounted to no more than trespassing.
Calhoun is still licensed to practice in Georgia—with no public discipline on his record. A bar spokesperson previously said the bar was waiting for charges against Calhoun to be resolved before taking action.
Calhoun didn’t immediately respond to an ABA Journal email seeking comment. His lawyers declined to comment when contacted by Law360.
