Politics - News Analysis

MAGA Rioter Who Refused an Attorney and Represented Himself… Is Not Doing Very Well in Court

As nearly everyone in the United States knows, if one is accused of a crime, it is one of the most perilous times in a person’s life and in our convoluted system, it is almost impossible to represent oneself with anything even approaching competence, never mind “well.” And yet for people that rejected authority on January 6th, many of them being “sovereign citizens” and other similar movements, accepting a lawyer is seen as accepting the system. Some choose to represent themselves just to grasp their freedom to control their own fate.

The problem is that their fate worsens, considerably, according to Washington NBC 4’s Scott McFarlane, who has been the reporter following the fate of Januarty 6th defendants most closely:

“Brian Mock … is accused of assaulting police January 6th. He’s pleaded not guilty, but is serving time in pre-trial detention. 100 days so far, he says, many of them most recently at the D.C. jail. Told the judge today he wants to represent himself. He says, quote, about the feds, ‘I have found flat-out lies and fraud. That’s not me being crazy or extreme.’ And he asked the judge today to re-open his detention hearing.”

Rawstory summarizes more of McFarlaine’s report:

The judge, however, told him that he would have to file a new motion for a bond review, which MacFarlane described as “something a lawyer could have instructed Mock about before today’s hearing.”

Multiple Capitol rioters have reportedly sought to act as their own attorneys, with poor results.

Eric Bochene, an accused rioter from upstate New York, is trying to bill a federal court for his own services as an attorney, including $10,000 per court appearance and a fine of $5 million if he is forced to give “bodily fluids” against his will. And Pauline Bauer, a so-called “sovereign citizen” who demanded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) be hanged, has shouted at the judge in her case and demanded authorities “drop all charges against my VESSEL.”

One other point that should be made, when defendants represent themselves – as is their right – it creates a situation where unusual things happen and unusual things bring about a greater risk of a successful appeal. This, reality, too, can get judges angry about one’s choice and hurt the defendant during the process.

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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