Samuel Lazar was released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 13 after being sentenced to 30 months in prison in a secret hearing on March 17.
A Jan. 6 defendant from Pennsylvania originally charged with felonies including assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol and civil disorder was given a secret plea deal and served his entire prison term without details being recorded on a public court docket.
Samuel Lazar, 37, of Ephrata, Pa., was arrested by the FBI on July 26, 2021, and later charged in a superseding indictment (pdf) with assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Mr. Lazar was ordered detained until trial despite his numerous requests for reconsideration.
On March 8, 2022, Mr. Lazar accepted a deal from prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one felony: assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and aiding and abetting. The plea deal included language that Mr. Lazar would assist federal authorities with the ongoing Jan. 6 investigation, according to a case status report (pdf) filed on Oct. 2.
United States District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Mr. Lazar to 30 months in prison on March 17, 2023, in a sealed hearing. He was given credit for time served and released from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 13.
On Sept. 29, the Press Coalition—which includes The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and several other media outlets—filed a renewed motion (pdf) for access to all sealed or otherwise un-docketed records in the case, including any change of plea, sentencing memoranda, and a transcript of the sentencing hearing. Judge Jackson denied a similar motion in May.
The judge said the prosecution and defense have approved unsealing the records now that Mr. Lazar is out of prison. The Department of Justice asked for 30 days to redact sensitive portions of the paperwork in the sealed case, the status update said.
The Press Coalition motion on April 23 came in the wake of national and local news reports that Mr. Lazar was sentenced in March 2023 based on a plea agreement. There was no notation of it on the public court docket, nor was there an indication that any hearings or documents were sealed by the court.
