Jan. 6 Insurrection Anniversary: Where Illinois Cases Stand Today

ILLINOIS — In the two years since the violent Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, more than 900 people have been charged with crimes, including at least 35 people from Illinois, and the House select committee investigating the insurrection has recommended that Trump and some of his allies also be criminally charged.

In Illinois, defendants charged or sentenced in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol include:

• Thomas B. Adams, Springfield, charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings. His trial is scheduled to begin on March 13.
• Matthew Bokoski, Chicago, pleaded guilty to demonstrating in a Capitol building. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 17.
• Matthew Capsel, Ottawa, pleaded guilty to interfering with a police officer during a civil disorder. He has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
• Anthony Carollo, Lockport, pleaded guilty along with two other men to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to one year of probation.
• Jeremiah Carollo, Carbon Glen, pleaded guilty along with two other men to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to spend 21 days in jail.
• Trudy Castle, Elmhurst, pleaded guilty along with another woman to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to 30 months of probation.
• Agnieszka Chwiesiuk, Chicago, is charged with 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. Her case is pending.
• Karol J. Chwiesiuk, Chicago, is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, entering and remaining in a room designated for the use of a member of Congress, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. His case is set for trial on May 1.
• Kimberly DiFrancesco, Elmhurst, pleaded guilty along with another woman to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to 30 months of probation.
• James Robert Elliott, Aurora, pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain police officers on Jan. 6. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 10.
• Leticia Vilhena Ferreira, Indian Head Park, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to two weeks in jail.
• Roy Franklin, Springfield, is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and obstruction of an official proceeding. His case is pending.
• Dawn Frankowski, Naperville, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
• Jason Gerding, Quincy, is charged with 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. He is scheduled for trial on April 17.
• Christina Gerding, Quincy, is charged with 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. She is scheduled for trial on April 17.
• Marcos Gleffe, a former Elk Grove Village resident, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 10.
• Bruce Harrison, Danville, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to two years of probation.
• Christian Kulas, Kenilworth, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to six months of probation.
• Mark Kulas, Jr., Lake Forest, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to six months of probation.
• Daniel Leyden, Chicago, was charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers on Jan. 6. His trial is scheduled for June 12.
• Joseph Leyden, La Grange, is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers on Jan. 6. He is scheduled for trial on June 12.
• Larry Ligas, Chicago is charged with 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. His trial is scheduled for April 3.
• Christopher Logsdon, Sesser, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to two weeks in jail.
• Tina, Logsdon, Sesser, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to two weeks in jail.
• Kevin Lyons, Chicago, is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining in certain rooms in the Capitol building, disorderly conduct at the grounds and in a Capitol building, parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, and obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting. His trial is scheduled for Feb. 6.
• James McNamara, Chicago, is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; civil disorder; destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and an act of physical violence in Capitol grounds. His case is pending.
• Bradley Rukstales, Inverness, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside a Capitol building and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
• Amy Schubert, Crest Hill, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
• John Schubert, Crest Hill, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
• Cody Vollan, Flossmoor, to demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building with two other men. He was sentenced to one year of probation.
• Douglas Wangler, Danville, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to two years of probation.
• David Wiersma, who was arrested in Posen, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
• Shane Woods, Auburn, pleaded guilty to felony charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers and a related federal assault charge. He faces up to 8 years in federal prison for assaulting a law enforcement officer.
• Tyng Jing Yang, Hoffman Estates, is charged with a civil disorder; 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. His case is pending.
• Athanasios Zoyganeles, Chicago, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. His sentencing is set for Jan. 26.

The violent siege on the Capitol two years ago was an attempt to stop the certification of electoral votes declaring Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election. It resulted in the deaths of five people during or soon after the attack, including two Capitol police officers and one rioter. About 140 police officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department were assaulted in the attack, according to the Justice Department.

It was the first in U.S. history that the transfer of power from one administration to another was not peaceful. In a speech before rioters attacked the Capitol, Trump repeated the same claims he had been making in the two months since the election that it had been stolen, then urged his supporters to walk from the rally site on the National Mall to the Capitol.

Biden is expected to mark the two-year anniversary of the insurrection with remarks Friday in the East Room of the White House, according to a schedule released Monday by his office. The White House did not provide details, according to reports from The Hill and others.

In a blistering criticism of the insurrection last year, Biden did not mention Trump by name, but squarely blamed the “defeated president” for the attack he said raised global concerns about the future of American democracy.

During its sweeping nearly 18-month investigation, the Jan. 6 committee, made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held 10 hearings, and obtained more than a million pages of documents before releasing its 814-page report last month.

The panel came to the unanimous conclusion that Trump coordinated a “conspiracy” on multiple levels, pressuring states, federal officials, and lawmakers to try to overturn his defeat, and inspired a violent mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and interrupt the certification of Biden’s win.

Chairman Bernie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, called the final report a “roadmap to justice” for Trump, whose actions leading up to the insurrection were the nearly singular focus of the committee.

“Donald Trump lit that fire,” Thompson wrote in the committee’s final report. “But in the weeks beforehand, the kindling he ultimately ignited was amassed in plain sight.”

The committee’s criminal referral asks the Justice Department to consider charges against Trump related to inciting an insurrection, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement, and obstruction of an official proceeding. The referral is largely symbolic, and the Justice Department is under no obligation to comply with recommendations in the unprecedented referral.

Witnesses, who ranged from many of Trump’s closest aides to law enforcement officers to some of the rioters themselves, detailed Trump’s “premeditated” actions ahead of the attack and told the committee how his wide-ranging efforts to overturn his defeat directly influenced those who brutally pushed past the police and smashed through the windows and doors of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In the months, weeks and days leading up to Jan. 6, “stop the steal” rallies built on the former president’s unsubstantiated accusations were held in Trump strongholds and swing states. The first was four days after the 2020 presidential election, on Nov. 7, 2020, at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, but other notable rallies were held in Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina.

From Jan. 5-7, 2021, Trump supporters staged 39 “stop the steal” protests in their state capitals, according to a report from the Bridging Divides Initiative, a project of Princeton University

The attack promoted the most expansive federal law enforcement investigation in U.S. history. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $500,000 for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for placing pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021. The agency is still seeking the public’s help to identify people pictured in 1,433 photos taken the day of the insurrection.

Less than half (335) of the cases have been adjudicated and the defendants have received their sentences, including 185 who have been sentenced to incarceration.

Among the most closely watched trials was that of Oath Keepers leaders Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, who were found guilty of seditious conspiracy — the most serious of the charges so far — in late November.

Three of their co-defendants were acquitted of the charge. Four other individuals have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges, the most serious of those filed so far in the investigation.

Seditious conspiracy charges reflect the Justice Department’s belief that the Capitol breach was a grave threat to the operation of the U.S. government.

Under the rarely-used federal seditious conspiracy law, enacted after the American Civil War, charges are filed when two or more people plot to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the United States or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States. …”

As the federal criminal cases continue, the FBI is continuing to ask for the public’s help in finding others who participated in the attack, which cell phone technology made one of the most documented crimes in U.S. history. Many of the Justice Department’s cases have been built on video footage of the attack, social media posts, phone location data, and tips from the public, and federal prosecutors say hundreds more cases could be filed.

Trials will continue this year and perhaps into 2024.