Former Pennsylvania patrol officer faces trial on Jan. 6 charges

WASHINGTON – A former Pennsylvania patrol officer whose case was at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling on Jan. 6 of this year will go on trial in February for allegedly assaulting police officers during the Capitol riots.

Joseph W. Fischer, who was a patrol officer with the North Cornwall Township Police Department in Pennsylvania at the time, was arrested in February 2021 and charged a month later with three counts of aggravated riot, assault, resisting or obstructing police, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Fischer was one of numerous Jan. 6 defendants who challenged the government's use of a post-Enron obstruction of justice law in their case. In early 2022, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols found that defendants charged under that law – 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) – must have taken “an act with respect to a document, record, or other item” to obstruct the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress. Nichols subsequently dismissed the charges against Fischer and two other men.

In June 2022, the Justice Department appealed Nichols' decision to the D.C. Circuit. A three-judge panel ultimately upheld the application of the law in a split decision, after which Fischer appealed to the Supreme Court. In June, the Supreme Court sided with Nichols in a 6-3 ruling. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that the January 6 defendants charged with obstructing the joint session “must have interfered with, or attempted to interfere with, the availability or integrity of any record, document, object, or … other thing used in the proceeding for use in an official proceeding.”

Roberts, joined in the majority by an ideological mix of Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said the government's broader interpretation of the law would criminalize a “wide range of banal behavior,” including that regularly exhibited by activists and lobbyists.

“Neither the text nor the legislative history suggests that paragraph (c)(2) is intended to impose a term of imprisonment of up to 20 years on virtually all defendants who have in any way obstructed justice and who may face lesser sentences under more specific obstruction of justice statutes,” Roberts wrote.

The Supreme Court ruling prompted the government to drop charges in dozens of cases that have been awaiting trial since July — although the Justice Department said last week for the first time that it intended to pursue charges against an Ohio couple to trial. The government also urged judges to uphold the convictions of defendants who had pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice before the Supreme Court ruling.

The case returned to Nichols' courtroom earlier this month, and on Wednesday the parties appeared to discuss how to proceed. Both Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Loeb and Fischer's legal counsel, Assistant Federal Public Defender Lori Ulrich, said they expected the case to go to trial on the remaining counts and asked Nichols to set a date.

Because of the busy trial schedule for the rest of the year, Nichols has scheduled jury selection in Fischer's trial for Feb. 24, 2025. Loeb said the government's trial will last about three days, and Ulrich said the defense's trial will likely last only a day or two. Ulrich did not say whether Fischer plans to testify in his own defense.

Despite his victory on obstruction of justice charges, Fischer still faces serious criminal charges, including allegations that he attacked a police cordon to advance further into the Capitol. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Fischer posted videos on his Facebook page showing himself participating in an attack on the Capitol police cordons on Jan. 6 and discussing pepper spray.

In one post, Fischer reportedly wrote: “I was there… we pushed the police back about 25 feet. We were pepper sprayed and OC sprayed, but entry into the capital [sic] was necessary to send the message that we, the people, have the real power.”

Investigators said they identified Fischer in footage from a Washington, D.C. police officer's body-worn camera that appears to show him in the middle of a scuffle between police and rioters inside the building. According to court documents, Fischer can be heard identifying himself as a police officer and yelling, “I'm a police officer. I'm a police officer too,” as he tries to get up from the floor.

After the riots, the FBI said, Fischer exchanged messages with another Facebook user about possibly losing his job as a police officer.

“I said [the chief] if that is the price I have to pay to express my freedom and rights that I was born with and that were then taken away from me, then [that] must be the price,” Fischer reportedly wrote. “I told him I regret nothing and give zero [expletive].”

In addition to setting a trial date for Wednesday, Nichols also issued an order barring Fischer from contacting a local prosecutor after he allegedly sent him a private message on social media that said, “By the way… f*** you. If you believed a word your FBI buddy said, you are really stupid. If I win, your name will be one of the first on my lips. You are already in my book.”

Fischer's lawyer did not object to the restriction.

In the 43 months since the attack on the Capitol, nearly 1,500 people have been arrested and charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. More than 1,100 defendants have now been convicted in connection with the attack.