Trump election offers possible reprieve for five South Dakotans involved in Jan. 6 riot

An image from a court document filed in the case against Sioux Falls resident Amy Willis, charged in federal court for her alleged behavior on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. The yellow circle, added by prosecutors, allegedly identifies Willis. (Courtesy of U.S. Department of Justice)

Amy Willis says she’s not a criminal.

When she entered the U.S. Capitol with a crowd of protesters who’d been urged by Donald Trump to “stop the steal” of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021, she claimed it felt more like a tour than a group of insurrectionists.

“I didn’t know it was an insurrection until I saw it on the news the next day,” Willis said in a recent interview with South Dakota Searchlight.

In July, Willis was indicted on misdemeanor charges, including knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building. The Sioux Falls herbalist became one of at least five South Dakotans and around 1,600 total people charged in federal court for their behavior that day — a group of people President-elect Trump has vowed to pardon upon returning to office next month.

A court document paints a starkly different picture than Willis’ description. A photo of her in the crowd before she entered the Capitol shows her amid a throng of people, some of whom held Trump flags and Gadsen flags — emblazoned with a coiled snake and the phrase “don’t tread on me” — or American flags. A puff of what appears to be smoke billows over the crowd. Another image from inside the Capitol shows Willis “appearing to film with her cell phone as rioters continued to pour in through the door and windows,” the document says.

Willis was allegedly part of a group that pushed past a police line, “forcing the officers to retreat.” The document also says Capitol police were actively attempting to push back the rioters.

Willis twice pulled away from an officer who’d attempted to remove her, the document says. She told Searchlight her resistance was a trauma response tied to a physically abusive relationship, and said she was planning to leave the building as instructed.

South Dakotans charged for alleged insurrectionist behavior

At least four South Dakotans have pending charges for their alleged actions on Jan. 6, and another South Dakotan has been sentenced.

Trump has referred repeatedly to Jan. 6 rioters as political prisoners and otherwise downplayed the riot, where four people in the crowd died and more than 100 police officers were injured. One officer died the day after the riot, and four others committed suicide within seven months. Once in office, Trump will have the authority to pardon each alleged rioter, including those like Willis whose cases are still working their way through the federal court system.

Judges have granted delays for at least two Jan. 6 defendants based on their argument that Trump might issue blanket pardons, Politico reported in November. Trump own’s potential criminal liability — he was indicted for his alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election — have mostly dissolved in the wake of his election victory.

On Thursday, a judge signed an order allowing a Kansas City man who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6-related charges to attend Trump’s inauguration next month.

In a televised Dec. 8 interview with NBC News, Trump promised to “be acting very quickly” to pardon Jan. 6 defendants.

Newell man faces nine counts

Darrell Goins of Newell is charged with nine counts, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly and dangerous weapon — listed as a “20-ounce plastic soft drink bottle” in his indictment — as well as disorderly and disruptive conduct, entering and remaining in a restricted building and assaulting or impeding certain officers.

The Goins case opened in May. He was arrested and released on his own recognizance that month. He’s pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a judge granted a continuance for his case in a virtual hearing held Dec. 17. His next hearing is set to take place eight days after Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

The FBI found Goins after getting a tip in mid-2022 identifying him in images and videos from Jan. 6, according to court documents. An agent interviewed a former coworker of Goins, who identified him in photos showing him raising a fist on the Capitol’s West Plaza “at the very front of the crowd, standing directly in front of the line of the U.S. Capitol Police.”

The court documents include a photo of a man, alleged to be Goins, tossing a plastic bottle at an officer, and say that “the bottle thrown by Goins appears to have narrowly missed” the officer’s head. The documents allege that Goins “physically engaged” with several officers on the way into the Capitol building alongside other rioters, and that a special agent with the Capitol police “recalled Goins actively rushing at the police line.”

They also allege that he used an officer’s riot shield to push into law enforcement while standing in front of a police line. He spent about 16 minutes inside the Capitol building before leaving, the documents say.

Calls placed by South Dakota Searchlight to numbers listed for Goins were not returned.

Bench warrant issued for Rapid City defendant

Calls to numbers listed for William George Knight of Rapid City also went unreturned.

Knight is charged with eight counts, including civil disorder, assaulting, impeding or resisting officers with a deadly and dangerous weapon — “a large metal sign,” according to his indictment — as well as disorderly conduct and entering and remaining in a restricted building.

A judge issued a bench warrant for Knight’s arrest in early October for failure to appear at a status hearing. U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Brady McCarron told South Dakota Searchlight via email that the “only status” they have for Knight is that he is out on bond.

The oldest open case involving a South Dakotan is that of Rapid City’s James Haffner.

Haffner moved to Rapid City from the Seattle area after Jan. 6. He was arrested three years ago in Rapid City on charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement, violent and unlawful entry of restricted buildings, obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Haffner’s case is still pending in D.C. district court. His next case status hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23.

When reached by South Dakota Searchlight, Haffner wrote that talking to the outlet would not be “in my best interests.”

“From my perspective, most journalists and news sources are scumbags,” Haffner wrote.

Sentenced from South Dakota

Like Haffner, rapper and Jan. 6 defendant Billy Knutson is an out-of-state transplant.

Knutson, who goes by the name “Playboythebeast,” moved to Mitchell from North Carolina in 2021. His lyrical themes are heavily political — he has songs called “Let’s Go Brandon (fjb)” and “Kyle Rittenhouse” — and they often reference his affiliation with the Proud Boys, a far-right group whose founder once sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling it a hate group.

The former song is a coded insult of President Joe Biden. The latter song is a reference to the real Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed a Black Lives Matter protester in Wisconsin in 2020. Rittenhouse was later acquitted of homicide charges on self-defense grounds.

“Free all my homies from the 6th that whole s— was a scam,” Knutson raps in that song, which also includes the line “AR-15 at my side like I’m Kyle Rittenhouse.”

Once the rapping ends, Knutson uses his speaking voice to end the song with a shoutout to the Proud Boys founder, and another spoken shoutout to Jan. 6 defendants.

Knutson served six months in federal prison on Jan. 6-related charges.

In a sentencing memorandum filed in Knutson’s case, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves of the D.C. district pointed to Knutson’s lyrics as a reason to give him a more significant sentence than some of his fellow Jan. 6 defendants. The document includes screenshots of Knutson’s music videos, including one in which the rapper holds up finger guns under a shower of bullet-shaped graphics.

Knutson pleaded guilty to one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. He released songs about the riot before and after that.

“Knutson’s participation in a riot that actually succeeded in halting the Congressional election-certification, combined with his violent criminal history, his celebration and endorsement of the violence on January 6, and his public condoning of future violence — including gun violence — renders a significant jail sentence both necessary and appropriate in this case,” the memo reads.

The sentencing memorandum notes that Knutson moved to Mitchell because the Proud Boys’ state headquarters was located there.

Knutson was released from federal custody on March 31, 2023. Messages sent to Knutson’s artist contact page were not returned.

Willis hopeful for pardon

Willis, the Sioux Falls herbalist, didn’t stay up to hear the results of the presidential election on Nov. 5.  But when she awoke the next morning to learn that Trump had won a second term, she was relieved on two levels.

First, she was pleased that her preferred candidate had emerged victorious. Second, she was hopeful that she might avoid being forced to stand trial.

Her interview with Searchlight marked the first time Willis had spoken to the media. It’s also “one of the first times” she’s admitted being in the Capitol that day, she said, though she’s been contacted by law enforcement and appeared virtually in court a few times since being indicted earlier this year.

“They have a lot of pictures of me anyway,” Willis said. “Now Trump’s in office, so that’s why I’m OK with this.”

Her next hearing is scheduled to take place virtually on Jan. 3.

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