An Oregon man who was identified as one of the first people to push past police and enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has been convicted in federal court of civil disorder, assaulting an officer and disorderly conduct.
Richard L. Harris, 42, of Happy Valley, took a selfie video just before entering the building, boasting he was in the “front (expletive) line baby, we’re storming the Capitol,” according to prosecutors.
Harris then marched to the Rotunda, physically assaulted a Metropolitan Police Department officer, was seen picking up a phone and threatening that he and others were “coming for” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence and climbed on the statue of U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, according to prosecutors. One court exhibit showed Harris’ arm draped around the statue of President Ford.
In a video played in court, Harris told an officer who appeared to be blocking his path that, “You’re outnumbered. There’s a (expletive) million of us out there, and we’re listening to ‘Trump, your boss,’” according to prosecutors.
Harris was arrested on March 18, 2021, in Florida.
His assistant federal public defender, Eric Cohen, has argued in court filings that the government didn’t show Harris had met with anyone beforehand to organize the protests or that he had stormed barricades, caused physical harm to anyone, entered either chamber of Congress or vandalized property “except for his sophomoric attempt to adorn President Ford’s statue.”
Although Harris pretended to speak with Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Pence, “he sought out neither,” Cohen wrote in court papers.
Harris was convicted last week by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols after a three-day bench trial in the District of Columbia on 11 charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly or disruptive conduct; engaging in physical violence in a restrictive building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Before March 2020, Harris lived with his father and worked for Amazon, according to a transcript of court testimony. During the pandemic, he left Amazon because he feared he might infect his father, who he was living with at the time, according to Cohen.
He relocated to Oregon and was living there before he took the trip to Washington, D.C., in early 2021, according to prosecutors.
On Dec. 20, 2020, Harris also was present at a protest at the Oregon Capitol, “where he shoved a journalist who was taking photos” of the event, but was never charged with any crime, according to court testimony.
On Wednesday, Harris’ lawyers will ask that he be released on bond, pending his sentencing. They also plan to appeal several counts of his convictions, which if successful, could dramatically reduce his future prison time, Cohen wrote to the court.
Harris is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 27.
Harris is among more than 1,000 people charged in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.
Two others arrested in Oregon have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and are awaiting sentencing. The cases against three others arrested in Oregon are pending. One man from Battle Ground, Wash., who was arrested in Molalla, was sentenced last summer.
