Burgettstown man charged in Jan. 6 riot expected to plead guilty today
Defendant accused of striking police officers with objects outside U.S. Capitol
The Burgettstown man accused of striking police officers with a metal pipe and throwing objects at them during the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol is expected to plead guilty to federal charges this afternoon.
Joshua Lee Atwood, 32, is scheduled for a change of plea hearing at 2:30 p.m. today in federal court in Washington, D.C. He was arrested in Washington County on April 17 upon being charged with participating in the riot nearly four years ago.
Investigators accused Atwood of throwing various objects and slinging a metal flagpole at police officers who were protecting the Capitol building while a mob of former president Donald Trump’s supporters tried to thwart the Electoral College certification for President Joe Biden. Atwood is also accused of throwing a large metal pipe at the police line, striking a DC Metro police officer and Virginia State Police trooper, and also hitting another officer on the helmet and face shield with a wooden pole. He also entered the Capitol at one point through a broken window, according to the indictment, and was seen in photographs inside the building.
Federal prosecutors initially extended a plea offer to Atwood and his attorney on July 17 that was set to expire a month later, according to online court documents. The two sides continued negotiations and prosecutors sent a “revised plea offer” on Aug. 21, which Atwood apparently accepted, leading to the change of plea hearing today before U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss. Details of the plea offer were not made public ahead of the hearing.
Atwood’s defense attorney, Ami Collins, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Whitesel, who is prosecuting the case for the federal government, both declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday morning.
Federal investigators located Atwood following his arrest for an alleged robbery and assault at the Crazy Donkey restaurant in Chester, W.Va. in April 2023. Atwood was indicted on the federal charges a year later and arrested in Burgettstown. Atwood was later extradited to a jail in Washington, D.C., where he has been held while awaiting adjudication of his case.
Atwood is facing felony charges of civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon; entering, remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon; and misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.