North Texan Lucas Denney Offers To Plead Guilty To Assaulting Police During Capitol Riot

WASHINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - A Capitol riot defendant from Mansfield upended his court hearing Monday, March 14 with a surprise offer to plead guilty to the single-count indictment against him – just as the judge was prepared to dismiss it.

The Justice Department admitted in a filing Monday it had violated the Speedy Trial Act by failing to file an indictment or criminal information against Lucas Denney within 30 days of his arrest.

Denney, 44 at the time, was taken into custody near Brackettville, west of San Antonio, on Dec. 13, 2021, and a federal grand jury didn't indict him until 85 days later on March 7.

Denney was charged with "engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder, obstructing an official proceeding, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon or resulting in bodily injury, among other charges."

Court records indicate Denney used social media and other means to try and recruit people to join his militia group, the Patriot Boys of North Texas.

In one Facebook post from December 30, he used a photograph called "Occupy Congress," officials said.  That post was removed by Facebook later that day.

Court documents also indicate Denney showed up on the west side of the Capitol just after 2 p.m. on January 6 dressed in tactical gear.

But last week, after realizing the DOJ had long blown past the Speedy Trial Act, prosecutors went to a federal grand jury and quickly received a single-count indictment against Denney for assaulting police with a dangerous weapon – just one of the seven felony counts he had initially faced.

Ultimately, Judge Rudolph Moss decided to reschedule the hearing for Thursday to give him time to review the case law and really decide how best to proceed.