A Kansas man scheduled to go to trial in Washington, D.C., this month on multiple felony charges in connection with the Capitol riot pleaded guilty to one count on Tuesday.
Michael Eckerman, of Wichita, pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer. The hearing was held by video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“What is your plea, sir?” asked U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper.
“I’m pleading guilty,” Eckerman replied.
Eckerman’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 14 in person in federal court in D.C. He faces a maximum sentence of eight years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He also is required to pay $2,000 in restitution for more than $2.8 million in losses the government said were caused by the riot, including damage to the Capitol building and grounds and certain costs borne by the U.S. Capitol Police.
Eckerman, 38, who told the judge he was born and raised in Wichita and played football at Garden City Community College, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 8, 2021. He was charged with three felonies — civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers; and obstruction of an official proceeding — and five misdemeanors involving the Capitol breach.
As part of the plea deal, the government agreed to drop all the other charges. The agreement requires Eckerman to cooperate with authorities in the investigation.
According to the charging documents in the case, surveillance camera footage from inside the Capitol showed Eckerman and two women entering the Capitol building around 2:23 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, through the Senate wing door. About 2:27 p.m., the documents said, Eckerman — wearing a tactical vest — was seen on surveillance cameras outside the Crypt, where Capitol Police had stopped the surge of rioters.
“Eckerman pushes his way through the crowd up to one of the officers until he is face to face with the officer,” the documents said. “He appears to push the officer backwards several feet.”
The officer, whose initials are K.Y., was later interviewed and said that the man identified as Eckerman pushed him “with aggressive force,” according to the documents. “The push caused Officer K.Y. to lose his balance and fall down a small set of stairs. After being knocked to the ground, Officer K.Y. was sprayed in the face with a fire extinguisher by an unknown individual.”
That incident allowed the crowd to start moving past police, the documents said. Eckerman and his two companions then went up to Statuary Hall on the second floor, where he again pushed his way forward to another police line. Eckerman again yelled at officers for several minutes, the documents said, then moved with his companions to the Rayburn Reception Room, where he took a selfie in front of a portrait of George Washington.
Surveillance video then captured Eckerman heading toward the back entrance to the House Chamber, where Ashli Babbitt was shot by a law enforcement officer as she tried to climb through a door where glass had been broken out to get to the House Chamber, the documents said. Just after the shooting, video showed Eckerman and his companions exiting the Capitol around 2:44 p.m. through the upper House doors.
Outside, Eckerman was interviewed about the shooting by FreedomNews.tv, saying that “I don’t know her name, all I know is we went there (Capitol) as patriots. She is dead because we’re here. These mother (expletive deleted) are traitors, they are (expletive deleted) traitors!”
At Tuesday’s plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Arco summarized the government’s case against Eckerman. She said he and the two women he was with spent about 20 minutes inside the Capitol building, breaching multiple police lines as they moved about.
Once outside, she said, the three continued to take photographs and record videos.
“In one such video, Mr. Eckerman shouted, ‘I went all the way in, knocked over six cops…,’” Arco said.
Eckerman disputed pushing the officer but his attorney, Richard Stern, acknowledged that the government was not required to prove that he did in order to state a factual basis for the felony charge. Still, Arco said, the government intended to present evidence at Eckerman’s sentencing that he did indeed push the officer.
“That’s one point we just argue over,” Stern said, “but the other points, we think the government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”
One of the conditions of release set by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gwynne E. Birzer after Eckerman’s arrest in Wichita last year raised questions about a possible connection to the far-right Proud Boys. It said, “No contact with Proud Boys organization nor anyone a member of or connected to it.”
The Proud Boys are at the forefront of the federal investigation into the Capitol insurrection. Authorities have rounded up more than three dozen members from around the country, including four from the Kansas City area, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to assaulting a federal officer to sedition. Former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and four top lieutenants are scheduled to go to trial in December on seditious conspiracy charges.
Eckerman’s jury trial was set to start Nov. 28. He would have been the first Capitol riot defendant from Kansas to go to trial. To date, nine Kansas residents have been charged, and of those, five have pleaded guilty. Two of those five await sentencing, and three have been sentenced to two years’ probation each, with one of them also receiving 30 days’ home detention and a $2,000 fine.
