WASHINGTON, D.C. – An Ormond Beach man scheduled to go to trial for his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol is asking a federal judge to move his trial to Virginia.
Joseph Biggs, a Florida leader of the Proud Boys, was arrested in the weeks immediately following the Jan. 6 violence.
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He is charged, alongside other members of the organization, with conspiracy to commit sedition and conspiracy to defraud the United States in addition to other charges.
Jury selection in their trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, Dec. 19, but Biggs filed a motion for a change of venue on Tuesday, asking the judge to move his trial to Alexandria, Virginia.
“Biggs has been convinced since the time of the first evening of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee’s televised proceedings on June 9 of this year that prejudice against all the defendants… is ‘so great’ under Fed. R. Crim. P. 21 that each Proud Boy defendant (and arguably Biggs, especially) ‘cannot obtain a fair and impartial trial’ in the District of Columbia,” the motion read. “Pretending otherwise is madness -- excusable, temporary madness, but madness, nonetheless.”
The motion forecasted more troubles with the impending report to be issued by the Jan. 6 Select Committee.
“That conviction will only be bolstered by the expected release in the near term of any House Select Committee reports, drafts, transcripts, or materials of any kind,” the motion read.
Biggs’ attorney, John Daniel Hull, has requested an opportunity to argue the motion during a pre-scheduled hearing on Wednesday.
Biggs faces the possibility of more than 20 years in prison if he is convicted.
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