“Pardon…is almost a certainty”: Lawyer tries to name-drop Trump get-out-of-jail-free card in a failed bid to delay January. 6th defendant’s case

An accused Jan. 6 rioter from Florida who allegedly harbored a member of the Proud Boys extremist group while they were on the run from police attempted and failed to get the Donald Trump treatment this week, filing to postpone his federal trial after claiming a high member of the future president s administration had promised him a pardon.

The undersigned has spoken with a high member of the future Trump Administration, and the future pardon of Thomas Osborne is almost a certainty, wrote attorney Jeffrey G. Brown in a Nov. 17 court filing, which came after prosecutors objected to delaying Osborne s trial earlier this month.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, a Barack Obama appointee, denied the accused rioter s Nov. 11 motion to stay or continue his trial on Monday, saying Osborne has failed to demonstrate that he meets the legal requirements for such relief.

This matter has been pending since February 21, 2024, the judge stated. The public has strong interest in the prompt adjudication of this matter, and Defendant s speculation that he may receive a pardon cannot overcome the strength of that interest.

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Osborne faces felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with his alleged participation in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol, and was released from jail in March pending his federal trial. He was arrested in Lakeland, Florida, and charged in February after being placed on a lookout list, according to Justice Department officials.

Prosecutors claim Osborne impeded police officers defending the Capitol and allegedly grabbed an officer s baton at one point. His charges include felony civil disorder, entering or remaining on restricted property, disorderly conduct in a restricted area, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Osborne allegedly traveled to Washington, D.C., with other people that day and claims to have ties to Proud Boys member Christopher Worrell, whom he is accused of illegally harboring in 2023.

[Worrell] was tried by bench trial last summer and found guilty on all counts for his conduct in the January 6th riot, and prior to sentencing, he also cut his GPS monitor and left a letter for his girlfriend, saying that, you know, he needed to go, said U.S. Attorney Risha Asokan at a court hearing earlier this year, according to The Associated Press.

The FBI subsequently learned that, for the approximately six weeks that Worrell had absconded pending his sentencing, Osborne had been harboring Worrell at Osborne s residence, prosecutors stated in a motion opposing Osborne s March release. In December 2023, the FBI searched Osborne s residence and recovered certain of Worrell s belongings.

According to prosecutors, investigators recovered text messages between Osborne and Worrell as well. Worrell fled in August 2023, just days before his scheduled sentencing.

According to FBI officials, finding Worrell s belongings inside Osborne s home was the least of prosecutors concerns, as authorities allegedly discovered a astonishing amount of guns including a loaded silver revolver stashed near his front door, an AR-15 platform rifle next to his bed and a shotgun underneath it, multiple handguns on top of his dresser, and an alarming number of loaded and unloaded magazines.

Prosecutors objected to Osborne s March release in court, citing his alleged weapons cache, but Mehta ultimately granted it.

There s no point in running because you ll get caught, he told Osborne, according to the Associated Press. Mehta argued that if Osborne ran, it would only make matters worse.

Osborne s lawyer argued in his Nov. 17 motion that his trial should be postponed due to Trump s election victory and recent decisions by other judges to do so for other alleged Jan. 6 rioters.

He pointed out that Trump made promises during his campaign that his supporters expect him to fulfill.

[T]he one who did win had repeatedly vowed to pardon January 6th defendants [like Mr. Osborne], according to Brown. He questioned the requested delay, asking, [H]ow is waiting three months an inefficient administration of justice? .

Under the terms of his release, Osborne is required to live with his sister and father, who are supposed to keep him under 24-hour lockdown at their home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Mehta s release order prohibits Osborne from possessing firearms.

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