VIRGINIA (WDBJ) – President Donald Trump’s executive order granting pardons to people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the United States Capitol will free several people from Southwest Virginia.
The order, issued on Trump’s first day in office, states it will end “…a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation.”
It specifically commutes the sentences of 14 people, including Thomas Caldwell, of northern Virginia. Caldwell was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of tampering with evidence.
The president’s order also grants “full, complete and unconditional” pardons to anyone else convicted of offenses related to Jan 6, directing the Attorney General to dismiss with prejudice any pending indictments.
Have they all been released?
The answer is, as of Wednesday, mostly all have been released. While Trump’s order directs the Bureau of Prisons to immediately release prisoners, that process could take some time.
The U.S. Department of Justice, through its component agencies the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia (USAO-DC), along with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, are working towards President Trump’s executive order to release defendants from January 6th cases.
A Department of Justice spokesperson told WDBJ7 prisoners who have been sentenced in federal court are housed by BOP. Their release does not require a federal court order and all affected BOP prisoners have been released. All sentenced individuals in USMS custody have or will be released, unless charged in other cases unrelated to January 6th.
In the cases where pre-sentenced prisoners are in USMS custody, USAO-DC has filed motions to vacate and dismiss pending cases with the U.S. District Court. Once a federal judge grants these motions, USMS will execute the pardon by making arrangements for each defendant to be returned to the jurisdiction of their federal arrest.
Who from our hometowns was charged?
Since January 2021, at least 10 people from Southwest Virginia have been charged in connection with the insurrection.
Those arrests included former Rocky Mount Police officers Thomas Robertson and Jacob Fracker. The FBI says the two men posed for a photograph inside the Capitol during the attack and later posted about the riot on social media.
Fracker pleaded guilty and testified against his co-defendant. He was sentenced to a year of probation. A judge granted Fracker a probation petition removing a requirement for community service hours which was previously part of his sentencing.
Robertson, meanwhile, fought his charges and went before a jury trial. He was found guilty of several charges and sentenced to seven years in prison. He has since appealed his conviction. In a court filing before the sentence, prosecutors said Robertson used his law enforcement training to block police officers who were trying to protect the Capitol from a mob’s attack.
Two other defendants have appealed their convictions. Markus Maly, a Fincastle man, was found guilty by a jury in December of 2022 and sentenced to six years behind bars. According to court documents, on the afternoon of Jan. 6, Maly pointed and sprayed a chemical irritant at a line of police officers working to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building.
Joshua Haynes of Covington pled guilty to felony charges and was sentenced to 32 months in prison. He has since been ordered to pay for damage to media gear outside the Capitol. According to the US Attorney’s Office, Haynes texted a contact following the insurrection, saying he “broke lotsa stuff.” He then sent an image with the message, “We attacked the CNN reporters and the fake news and destroyed tens of thousands of dollars of their video and television equipment.” He also texted the same person, “I want to get busted for tearing up the nations capital and the fake news.” He also appealed his case.
Jamie Ferguson of Lynchburg signed a plea agreement in the summer of 2022 and was sentenced to 24 months probation. In an interview with her, federal agents said Ferguson told them she went to the Capitol after former President Trump’s rally, believing she’d see the president again. She was spotted in surveillance video wearing a sweatshirt that said, in part, “Yes I am a Trump Girl.”
Jeremy Groseclose of Elliston has been awaiting his day in court for a while. FBI agents say surveillance video shows Groseclose helping to open a roll-up door police were using to try to keep rioters out of the Capitol.
Casey Tryon-Castro of Roanoke was arrested in January of 2023, facing several felony and misdemeanor charges. According to a criminal complaint, Tryon-Castro told officers during a 2021 interview that she yelled at the crowd to “push!” while she was in the tunnel. She is accused of stealing a riot shield from an officer.
In August of 2023, the Department of Justice announced the arrests of Peter Willey of Roanoke and Ethan Mauck of Troutville, who was originally incorrectly identified as being from Pennsylvania. According to the US Attorney’s Office, both men are accused of using bike racks and signs to push against police officers.
The most recent arrested came the week before Trump’s pardon. Nathan Bordeaux, of Floyd County, was charged with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and obstruction. According to court documents, Bordeaux was seen fighting officers alongside a mob on the Northwest Capitol grounds. Court documents say Bordeaux was one of the first to breach the Capitol, and that he threw a water bottle at Capitol Police.
The Justice Department says more than 1,146 defendants from nearly all 50 states have been charged in D.C.
What’s the response been?
Reactions to the pardons have been split, largely along political party lines.
Trump defended the pardons, saying he thought the sentences imposed were “ridiculous and excessive,” and that those charged “are people who actually love our country.”
U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) released a statement saying: “Instead of focusing on steps to strengthen our economy, lower costs, or make communities safer, Donald Trump pardoned over 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn an election, including those convicted of assaulting police officers. These deeply offensive pardons are a slap in the face of the law enforcement community—including five Virginians who died after protecting the Capitol that day—the Constitution, the rule of law, and our democracy.”
Karen Hult, a political expert and professor of political science at Virginia Tech, weighed in.
“One possible analog to the pardoning and commuting the Jan. 6 defendants might be President Jimmy Carter’s grant of a pardon to all who evaded the Vietnam War draft between 1964 and 1973, issued on his first full day in office. That too, of course, was controversial, but in contrast to Trump’s approach, Carter’s proclamation specifically excluded deserters, recipients of dishonorable discharges, and those who committed violence during anti-war protests,” Hult said.
Hult also commented on former president Joe Biden’s slew of pardons, many of which were for people not yet accused or convicted of a crime.
“President Biden’s issuing of preemptive pardons — for, among others, those involved in prosecuting Trump and participating in congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection — raises several concerns,” Hult said. “First, they focus on possible activities by a newly elected president and his presumptive appointees. If nothing else, such pardons exacerbate relations in an already polarized and distrustful polity. They also continue an escalation of attacks between the two major parties’ elected officials and senior appointees. These pardons in all likelihood will further taint President Biden’s long and generally distinguished public service career and his accomplishments as president.”
Outside of Virginia, The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) released a statement saying they have had long standing and positive relationships with both President Trump and President Biden. The statement went on to say the groups “…are deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump Administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers. The IACP and FOP firmly believe that those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences.”
Copyright 2025 WDBJ. All rights reserved.