Jan. 6 prisoner has won early release from prison thanks to a Supreme Court decision to review the use of a felony obstruction charge against Jan. 6 detainees.
A Delaware man serving a three-year sentence for marching through the halls of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, has won early release thanks to a Supreme Court decision to review the Biden administration’s novel use of an evidence-tampering law to prosecute hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants for felony obstruction of Congress.
Kevin Seefried, who was one of the first people to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, was convicted in June 2022 following a bench trial before Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on four misdemeanors and a single felony obstruction charge.
Judge McFadden sentenced him on Feb. 9, 2023, to 36 months in prison and one year of supervised release.
Mr. Seefried, who’s been incarcerated since May 31, 2023, appealed his conviction and sentence several times.
Following a complex legal journey tied to the fate of a separate Jan. 6 case that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge McFadden issued an order on March 26, granting Mr. Seefried’s motion for release pending resolution of an appeal—but not immediately.
“The Bureau of Prisons is ordered to release Seefried one year after the day on which he surrendered to custody,” the judge wrote in the memorandum and order, meaning that Mr. Seefried will remain behind bars until May 31.
The judge also ordered both parties to file a joint status report no later than 14 days after the Supreme Court releases its opinion in a case known as Fischer v. United States, which experts say could weaken prosecutors’ hand in hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions.
Supreme Court Paves Way For Early Release
In December 2023, the Supreme Court decided it would take up an appeal by Jan. 6 defendant Joseph W. Fisher of the Biden administration’s novel use of an Enron-era evidence-tampering law to prosecute hundreds of defendants for obstruction of Congress during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
By Tom Ozimek
