Jan. 6 defendant from Kansas allowed to attend Trump inauguration, judge says

Judy L. Thomas, The Kansas City Star on Jan 7, 2025

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A federal judge on Tuesday approved a Kansas Jan. 6 defendant’s request to attend president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, the first person charged with a felony to receive such permission.

William Pope, of Topeka, filed a motion with the court on Dec. 28 asking for approval to go to the Jan. 20 event. His request was granted by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“I’m currently working out travel plans,” Pope told The Star on Tuesday afternoon. “I knew I had a decent chance to get approved, but waiting for the decision took longer than I thought it would.”

In his brief order, Contreras — a President Barack Obama appointee — said he took into consideration that Pope “is not charged with assault or vandalism-related charges.”

Pope said in his request that he’d received permission from the court on two previous occasions to travel to D.C., “and did so without incident.”

“I do not anticipate being in Washington before January 19, or after January 21,” he wrote. “As with all my previous trips to D.C., I will be entirely peaceful.”

Pope, who was released on a personal recognizance bond after his indictment in 2021, said he hadn’t originally planned to go to the inauguration, but someone invited him and he changed his mind. He declined to say who extended the invitation.

The government filed a motion Thursday asking the court to deny Pope’s request.

“Defendant presents a danger to the D.C. community, including the very law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and continue to serve the citizens of the District,” the filing said.

“The last organized event the defendant attended in Washington, D.C., spiraled into a full-scale riot. This was the scene of his charged crime — a felony which contributed to the violent disruption of the peaceful transition of power.”

Pope responded the same day.

“As the Court knows, the American people faced a decision to either continue these prosecutions or end them, and they voted to elect the candidate who campaigned on ending them,” he wrote.

“The people’s decision is why I am being invited to the Presidential Inauguration in the first place. And because the American people rejected the prosecution of this case, they have also rejected the continuation of my travel restrictions to Washington D.C., which, to be honest, were ridiculous in the first place since I am an upstanding American citizen and entirely peaceful.”

Pope, 38, is one of 10 Kansas residents who have been charged for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021. Their offenses range from misdemeanor counts of demonstrating or picketing to felonies that include assaulting officers and civil disorder.

Pope originally was charged with two felonies and six misdemeanors, but one felony — obstruction of an official proceeding — and two misdemeanors were dismissed last year. His current charges are for civil disorder, a felony, and four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Of the 10 Kansans charged, nine have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced. The only case pending is Pope’s, which has attracted national attention over his efforts to force the government to release Capitol security footage from Jan. 6.

Pope, who is representing himself in his criminal case, was scheduled for a jury trial last year but succeeded in getting it moved until after Trump’s inauguration. He doesn’t believe, however, that his June 2025 trial will even take place. Like many of the other nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, he expects to be exonerated once Trump takes office.

“I don’t think I’m going to have a trial,” he said.

Throughout his campaign, Trump pledged to pardon the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he has referred to as “hostages,” “patriots” and “political prisoners.” But the details on how he intends to accomplish that remain unclear.

Another area defendant also to attend inauguration

Pope is the second Jan. 6 defendant from the region to be granted permission to attend Trump’s inauguration.

Eric Lee Peterson, a military veteran who court documents say lives in both Kansas City and Roseville, Michigan, filed a similar request on Dec. 17. He was charged in August with four misdemeanors and pleaded guilty in November to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

Peterson’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 27, although his attorney said it would likely be rendered moot if Trump follows through with his pledge to pardon Jan. 6 defendants.

“Mr. Peterson, as the government will agree, was not alleged to have done anything related to assault or vandalism at the January 6, 2021 protests,” Peterson’s lawyer, Michael Bullotta of Detroit, wrote in the motion. “His offense was entering and remaining in the Capitol for about 8 minutes without proper authorization.”

On Dec. 19, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee, approved the request.

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