3 More Jan. 6 Defendants Ask Supreme Court to Review Widely Charged Obstruction Felony

Defense attorneys say the U.S. Department of Justice is using the law as a “blatant political instrument to crush dissent.”

A man waves a flag from the stairs of the U.S. Capitol Building after breaking a police line as protesters and supporters of US President Donald Trump gather outside the building on Jan. 6, 2021. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Three more criminal-case defendants have joined a petition seeking to have the U.S. Supreme Court review the U.S. Department of Justice’s novel use of an evidence-tampering statute to prosecute those who protested 2020 presidential election results at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Defendants Christopher J. Warnagiris, 43, Christopher J. Carnell, 21, and William Robert Norwood III, 40, jointly filed an amici curiae brief (pdf) with the Supreme Court in support of a petition for review of the law filed on July 7 by defendant Edward Jacob Lang, 28.