A federal judge in the District of Columbia approved motions on Thursday for two of Richard "Bigo" Barnett's four lawyers to leave his case before sentencing, which is scheduled for May 3 in Washington, D.C.
Joseph McBride of New York City and Carolyn Stewart of Plant City, Fla., were allowed to withdraw as Barnett's attorneys of record.
Bradford L. Geyer of Cinnaminson, N.J., and Jonathan Gross of Baltimore will stay on to shepherd Barnett through the sentencing phase.
After a two-week trial in January, Barnett, of Gravette, was found guilty of eight charges in connection with the U.S. Capitol riot of Jan. 6, 2021. He faces a maximum of 47 years in prison.
Barnett faced enhanced charges for carrying a stun gun into the Capitol, where he posed for photos with his foot on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office suite.
On March 13, Geyer also filed a motion to withdraw from the case.
But after U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper expressed concern on Monday about so many of Barnett's attorneys leaving before his sentencing, Geyer decided to stay on.
In a teleconference hearing on Monday, Cooper said he wanted to make sure Barnett's rights were protected, and that's the responsibility of his attorneys, all of whom have been busy defending others charged in the Capitol riot.
McBride, who served as Barnett's lead attorney, has been dealing with medical issues. In court filings last year, McBride told Judge Cooper he was suffering from the long-term effects of covid-19 and Lyme disease.
McBride and Gross have been in hot water with another D.C. federal judge.
They were representing Christopher Quaglin, a Jan. 6 defendant from New Jersey accused of attacking police officers with a stolen riot shield and spraying them with a chemical irritant.
McBride filed a motion March 6 to withdraw from Quaglin's case, saying Gross could assume his role as lead attorney. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden granted the motion the day it was filed without conducting a hearing.
Then Gross informed the court he had no intention of serving as Quaglin's lead attorney and that his April trial needed to be postponed, in part because of Passover, which Gross, who has served as a rabbi in orthodox Jewish synagogues, strictly observes. This year, Passover is from April 5-13.
On March 16, Gross filed a motion saying he was "a constitutional rights attorney who has never in his life practiced criminal law."
On March 23, Judge McFadden filed an order saying McBride and Gross had repeatedly caused delays in the case, and he questioned McBride's Aug. 3 motion to continue the Quaglin case because of his medical issues.
McBride said he would be undergoing treatments for two or three months, which would make it difficult to prepare for Quaglin's trial, which was initially scheduled to begin Oct. 3. McBride said he "does not have an exact timetable regarding recovery," according to a footnote in Judge McFadden's order.
But McBride found time to do other things last fall.
He kept filing documents in the case of another Jan. 6 defendant, did media interviews, spoke to a local committee about his fight for the "January 6 political prisoners," and continued to tweet at length about Quaglin's "troubling detention conditions ... despite not filing anything on his behalf," according to Judge McFadden's order.
"In early November 2022, McBride posted pictures of himself on the beach at Mar-a-Lago and inside former President Trump's 2024 campaign announcement party," wrote the judge, referring to Twitter posts.
McFadden ordered McBride and Gross to show cause as to why they shouldn't be referred to the court's Committee on Grievances for violation of professional conduct rules concerning competence, diligence and "candor to the tribunal."
In his response to the show-cause order, Gross wrote in a filing on Wednesday that, from the moment he learned of McBride's withdrawal, "Gross committed himself to identifying a replacement first chair attorney with extensive experience with criminal trials, and to continue preparing for Mr. Quaglin's trial so that he could assist Mr. McBride's replacement."
"At no time did Mr. Gross represent to anyone that he intended to act as lead counsel at Mr. Quaglin's trial," according to the filing.
Apparently clarifying a statement in his March 16 filing, Gross wrote on Wednesday that he had never practiced criminal law before September 2022, when he joined Barnett's legal team. Gross served in a "junior capacity" during Barnett's trial, according to the filing.
"To the extent that Mr. McBride stated in his motion for withdrawal that Mr. Gross will 'assume the duties of lead counsel going forward,' it can only be interpreted to mean that Mr. Gross would do so until he found a substitute lead counsel, which he set out to do immediately, and notified the court at the first possible opportunity," wrote Gross.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 18 before Judge McFadden.