A Cedar Rapids man, who said he was showing his support to former President Donald Trump and got caught up in the moment as he followed violent protesters into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, was convicted of seven charges Tuesday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, which carries up to a 20-year sentence, along with six other counts, including unlawfully entering and remaining on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; unlawfully engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; and unlawfully entering and remaining on the floor of Congress.
Kelly’s Washington, D.C. trial started May 1 and a jury returned the verdict Tuesday.
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Kelly, who described himself as an independent during a Gazette interview after the riot, said he just followed the mob into the Senate chamber as they invaded the Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election.
“It was just a crazy time,” Kelly said. He felt overwhelmed by what happened.
Kelly, during the interview, said he went to the “Save America Rally” and listened to Trump’s remarks, but he didn’t believe Trump was responsible for the violence at the Capitol because he told supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump also told supporters "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," according to news reports.
Kelly, who worked at his family-owned business as a broker of internet services, said he had no malicious intent. He didn't feel like part of a coup attempt.
“I wasn't armed,” he said in the 2021 interview. “I didn't intend to destroy anything and I didn't destroy anything.”
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He estimates he was in the Senate chamber for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour.
Leo Kelly
Kelly, who said God would judge his actions, believes in the rule of law and said in 2021 that he understood that the law could come for him.
“I understand there could be consequences for what happened and I will accept those and deal with them,” he added.
Kelly’s admission in The Gazette interview and with LifeSiteNews, a nonprofit conservative website, that he was one of the first people, along with dozens of others, to enter the Capitol, helped lead an FBI investigator to him, according to court documents. Kelly also was identified through a video by The New Yorker magazine.
Later, in a trial brief filed in January of this year, Kelly maintained he didn’t intend to go into the Capitol that day until he was “invited in” by Trump. He also maintains that he didn’t intend to disrupt or obstruct the vote that day.
“Mr. Kelly believed at the time he entered the Capitol that the doors were opened by police officers with authority to let him in,” Kira West, Kelly’s Washington lawyer, said in the joint statement. “Mr. Kelly maintains that he acted in a respectful manner at all times while in and around the Capitol.”
www.thegazette.com
Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, which carries up to a 20-year sentence, along with six other counts, including unlawfully entering and remaining on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; unlawfully engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds and in the Capitol; and unlawfully entering and remaining on the floor of Congress.
Kelly’s Washington, D.C. trial started May 1 and a jury returned the verdict Tuesday.
Advertisement
Kelly, who described himself as an independent during a Gazette interview after the riot, said he just followed the mob into the Senate chamber as they invaded the Capitol in an attempt to stop lawmakers from certifying the 2020 election.
“It was just a crazy time,” Kelly said. He felt overwhelmed by what happened.
Kelly, during the interview, said he went to the “Save America Rally” and listened to Trump’s remarks, but he didn’t believe Trump was responsible for the violence at the Capitol because he told supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump also told supporters "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," according to news reports.
Kelly, who worked at his family-owned business as a broker of internet services, said he had no malicious intent. He didn't feel like part of a coup attempt.
“I wasn't armed,” he said in the 2021 interview. “I didn't intend to destroy anything and I didn't destroy anything.”
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He estimates he was in the Senate chamber for somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour.
Kelly, who said God would judge his actions, believes in the rule of law and said in 2021 that he understood that the law could come for him.
“I understand there could be consequences for what happened and I will accept those and deal with them,” he added.
Kelly’s admission in The Gazette interview and with LifeSiteNews, a nonprofit conservative website, that he was one of the first people, along with dozens of others, to enter the Capitol, helped lead an FBI investigator to him, according to court documents. Kelly also was identified through a video by The New Yorker magazine.
Later, in a trial brief filed in January of this year, Kelly maintained he didn’t intend to go into the Capitol that day until he was “invited in” by Trump. He also maintains that he didn’t intend to disrupt or obstruct the vote that day.
“Mr. Kelly believed at the time he entered the Capitol that the doors were opened by police officers with authority to let him in,” Kira West, Kelly’s Washington lawyer, said in the joint statement. “Mr. Kelly maintains that he acted in a respectful manner at all times while in and around the Capitol.”
Cedar Rapids man convicted of 7 charges related to Jan. 6 insurrection
A Cedar Rapids man was convicted by a Washington D.C. jury Tuesday on seven charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. He faces at least one felony which carries up to 20 years in prison.
www.thegazette.com
