Third South Carolinian pleads guilty to riot-related charges in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

A South Carolina resident who was among the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty on Monday to the charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

James Douglas Lollis of Greer is the third to plead guilty of the 11 South Carolinians charged so far in the riot. Federal Chief Judge Beryl Howell took the plea at a hearing in Washington, according to court records.

Judge Howell will sentence Lollis on Feb. 18. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison. Evidence against him includes surveillance video.

Howell made news in October when, at a guilty plea hearing for a misdemeanor charge against a different rioter, she was quoted asking federal prosecutors: “Is it the government’s view that the members of the mob that engaged in the Capitol attack on January 6 were simply trespassers?... Is general deterrence going to be served by letting rioters who broke into the Capitol, overran the police . . . broke into the building through windows and doors ... resolve their criminal liability through petty offense pleas?”

More than 100 police officers were injured in the deadly riot. Five people died that day — including a woman killed by Capitol police — while other police officers died by suicide in the days following Jan. 6.

Lollis traveled to Washington on Jan. 5 with a friend and brought a pistol, a prosecution statement said. He left the pistol in his hotel room on the day of the riot.

In return for the guilty plea, the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s office has agreed to drop other charges against him. The charges to be dropped, filed in September, are entering and remaining in a restricted building, disruptive conduct in a restrictive building and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Lollis has also agreed to let federal agents examine his social media accounts for statements and postings “in and around Jan. 6,” according to a plea agreement in the case.

“Lollis knew at the time he entered the Capitol building he did not have permission to enter the building,” a prosecution memo filed Monday in the case says.

Lengthy investigation

At the time the rioters entered, the Capitol was closed to members of the public because Congress was in a joint session to formally certify the electoral votes from each state, the memo said. Those votes showed that then President-elect Joe Biden had beaten then-President Donald Trump in last November’s election.

Earlier that day, Trump and allies staged a rally at the rear of the White House and urged more than 10,000 Trump supporters to march on the Capitol to “stop the steal” — a rallying cry that falsely alleged Biden and the Democrats had stolen the election from Trump. As Trump and others spoke, thousands marched to the Capitol, and many of them entered the building by breaking doors and windows and fighting police who tried to stop them.

Members of Congress fled to safe areas, and the electoral vote certification process was halted for about five hours.

Allegations that widespread election fraud existed in the 2020 presidential election have been dismissed from some 60 courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, for lack or evidence or jurisdiction. Trump’s own Attorney General, William Barr, said an FBI investigation had failed to find evidence of fraud sufficient enough to affect the election.

The Department of Justice’s investigation and prosecution of the hundreds of individuals involved in the riot is the department’s largest in history.

“In the 10 months since Jan. 6, more than 675 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 210 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing,” the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington said.

SC residents charged in connection with Jan. 6 attack

The other 10 South Carolinians arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 riot are:

▪ Nicholas Languerand, of Little River, who was charged in April with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting an officer using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted government area. He has pleaded guilty to reduced charges and will be sentenced in January.

▪ Andrew Hatley, who is charged with uttering threatening, or abusive language, or engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress. He agreed to plead guilty at a Sept. 14 hearing to some of the charges against him. He will be sentenced in December.

▪ A Hanahan couple, John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Hargis-Getsinger, who were arraigned in Charleston before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker.

▪ Elias Irizarry, 19, a freshman at the Citadel military college in Charleston. He was charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, illegally knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds.

▪ Elliott Bishai, 20, of York County. He is charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, illegally knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building and knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in any restricted building or grounds.

▪ William Norwood III, of Greer, who is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstruction of justice and theft of government property.

▪ George Tenney III, 34, of Anderson, who is charged with interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, obstruction of justice, knowingly entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and demonstrating in a Capitol building.

▪ Derek Gunby, 41, of Anderson County, who is charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds.

▪ Paul Colbath, of Fort Mill, has been charged with disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Columbia.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Third South Carolinian pleads guilty to riot-related charges in Jan. 6 Capitol attack."