Prosecution Data: Capitol Siege of January 6, 2021

Updated: April 07, 2023

On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol building was breached by demonstrators as part of an attempt by supporters of President Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Over one hundred law enforcement officers and an unknown number of demonstrators were injured, and four demonstrators and one police officer were killed. Some notable inclusions in this dataset are Derrick Evans, a recently elected delegate from W. Virginia, Jake Angeli, a leader in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, Nick Ochs, who founded the Hawaii chapter of the Proud Boys, and Klete Keller, the former USA swimmer and five-time Olympic medalist.

Just as we did during the George Floyd Uprising/Summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, we have worked to quickly track and investigate these cases, sharing the data transparently with journalists, policymakers, legal scholars and other academics, and social movement activists. In the immediate days after the Capitol attack, tPP fielded numerous calls from journalists and other investigators seeking this data, and we are pleased to share this information with the public.

This Capitol siege data set contains only cases of defendants who participated in the January 6, 2021 attack, and select additional cases wherein individuals were arrested prior to or after the siege for crimes directly relating to the day’s events.

For example, within this data set, we include the widely publicized case of Proud Boys leader Henry Tarrio, who was arrested two days before the siege after he arrived in Washington, D.C., allegedly as an event organizer, in possession of illegal firearm components.

In looking at our data, some may ask, ‘Why does the data set contain counter-protestor (i.e., anti-Trump, anti-fascist, Black Lives Matter) crimes mixed in with those from the attack on the Capitol building?’ Simply put, we seek to track all manners of political violence, regardless of ideology. Cases are eventually measured and coded on the basis of a defendants’ motive, ideology, methods, etc., but in establishing these cases for preliminary tracking, we are simply asserting that the crimes have:

• a.) a socio-political motive, and/or,
• b.) the federal government has labeled the crime ‘protest-related,’ ‘related to the civil disturbance,’ or through the use of other language which links the crime to the Capitol siege.

We will continue to add, investigate, and validate cases as information becomes available. Data are incomplete as details are still unfolding, but we have chosen to provide updates for others to build upon. Early coding may change as indictments are reviewed.

You can download the spreadsheet of 1076 cases here

(listing updated 04/07/23 @ 4:35pm EST)

This information is free to use, but please credit the Prosecution Project | tPP Twitter.

If you have further questions about the data or would like more information on the cases, their inclusion criteria, or to speak to a member of our team, get in touch.

Madison Weaver is the project manager for these cases and can be reached here.