An Arkansas man who propped his feet up on a desk in the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the riot at the US Capitol planned the trip for weeks and arrived prepared for violence, a prosecutor said Tuesday as his trial began.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett had a stun gun tucked into his pants when he stormed the Capitol, invaded Pelosi’s office and posed for a photo that became one of the best-known images of the attack, prosecutors said. He also took some of his mail and left a note saying, “Nancy, Bigo was here,” prosecutors said. Barnett punctuated the message with a sexist expletive.
“The defendant violated that space,” prosecutor Alison Prout said during opening statements. “He Came Prepared for Violence.”
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Staff were huddled in the hallway at the time, hiding from rioters after leaving computers, cellphones and personal files behind as they fled, he said.
Before leaving the Capitol grounds, Barnett used a megaphone to deliver a speech to the crowd, shouting, “We took our house back and I took Nancy Pelosi’s office!” according to prosecutors.
“Barnett has become a leading figure in the attack on the Capitol as a result of the widespread circulation of his photographs in the office of Speaker of the House Pelosi and his subsequent interview,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
“Everything he did inside was based on a political protest…it was all protest, protest, protest,” the defense wrote. They decided to wait to give opening statements later in the trial.
Defense attorneys have argued that the former firefighter did not break through the barriers or attack police when he was dragged into the building with the rest of the crowd. He went into Pelosi’s office suite looking for a bathroom, his attorneys said.
The criminal trial of Richard “Bigo” Barnett, a prominent rioter in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, began Tuesday.
(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Cenata)
A grand jury indicted Barnett on eight counts, including felony civil disorder and obstruction of official proceeding. He also faces one charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon: the spiked stun gun concealed within a collapsible baton.
Barnett planned for weeks before driving from his home in Gravette, Arkansas, to Washington, DC, to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, prosecutors said. He concealed or destroyed evidence of his involvement in riots after returning home to Arkansas, according to court documents.
Barnett turned himself in to FBI agents at the sheriff’s office in Bentonville, Arkansas, two days after the riot. He told investigators that the large crowd pushed him toward the Capitol.
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Records at the Bass Pro Shop in Arkansas showed that Barnett purchased the stun gun five days before traveling to Washington. FBI agents found the packaging for the device at his home.
In June 2021, Barnett appeared on Russian state television with his lawyer. Asked if he would do it again, he replied: “I exercise my First Amendment rights every hour, every minute and every day, and I will never stop,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Barnett had a history of arming himself at political rallies before the Jan. 6 attack. In July 2020, they said, a 911 caller reported that a man matching Barnett’s description had pointed a rifle at him during a “Back the Blue” rally.
“Police ultimately closed the investigation as groundless due to apparent unresolved discrepancies in the evidence,” prosecutors wrote.
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In November 2020, police were called to a “Save the Children” rally when a caller said Barnett was carrying a gun at the protest and acting suspiciously.
