Minnesotans among those pardoned for Jan. 6 riots on President Trump’s first day
More than a dozen Minnesotans are among the nearly 1,600 participants in the Jan. 6 riot who received pardons and commutations from President Donald Trump on his first day back in office.
The president’s move halted a trial for two southern Minnesota men that had been underway in Washington D.C., and it erased the criminal convictions of another seven people who took part in the insurrection.
Federal prosecutors had alleged that Cleveland, Minn., residents Kenneth Wayne Fuller, 45, and his son Caleb, 22, were part of the mob that pushed through police lines on the U.S. Capitol’s Upper West Terrace just over four years ago.
They both faced a felony count of obstructing law enforcement plus several misdemeanors. Last week a jury was seated for their federal trial in Washington, D.C. Testimony continued through Friday and had been scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.
But on Monday — hours into his second term — Trump issued pardons and commutations to all of the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he called hostages. That included an order to the U.S. Department of Justice to dismiss all pending cases.
“They’ve been treated very unfair. The judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. Nobody’s ever treated people in this country like that,” Trump said.
Trump also cleared the record of Kenneth Fuller’s brother, Nicholas John Fuller of Mapleton, Minn. The 41-year-old opted not to go to trial and received three years of probation after pleading guilty in June to the same felony civil disorder count.
Ten of the 14 Minnesota defendants were charged with felonies, but like the Fullers, most were not accused of hurting police, just blocking them as they tried to hold back the mob.
One of the exceptions is Brian Mock, 46, of Minneapolis. Prosecutors said Mock can be seen on video outside the Capitol shoving two officers to the ground and kicking one of them.
Because the charges were so serious, Mock spent nearly a year in pretrial detention. He was the only Minnesota defendant jailed prior to his trial. The judge who presided over Mock’s bench trial last summer convicted him on all 11 counts.
Mock received the longest prison term of anyone from the state: 33 months.
Mock began serving his time in the Sandstone federal prison in April. But U.S. District Judge James Boasberg recalculated Mock’s sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 this summer that one of those 11 counts — obstructing an official proceeding — did not apply to Jan. 6 defendants.
Boasberg re-sentenced Mock to time served, and left prison about three weeks before getting his pardon from Trump.
MPR News reached out to Mock and several other Jan. 6 defendants from Minnesota, but they either did not return calls or had changed their phone numbers.
The Justice Department filed the first charges in 2021. The seven Minnesotans convicted have already been sentenced, and in most instances have already completed their sentences.
With the exception of Mock, they received probation, home confinement, prison terms of a few months, or a combination.
In October, a judge sentenced Paul Orta Jr., of Blue Earth, Minn., to six months of incarceration for obstructing police and ordered him to report to prison when notified by the court’s probation office. But federal prison records do not list the 35-year-old as ever having been in custody.
Trump’s order also cancels the April trial of Martin James Cudo of Lakeville, Minn., on a five-count indictment and a separate trial that had been scheduled for August of Robert Westbury of Lindstrom, Minn., and his three sons Jonah Westbury, Isaac Westbury and Aaron James.
Robert and Jonah faced misdemeanor counts. Isaac Westbury and Aaron James had been accused of felonies, including taking a police shield and using it to attack officers.