Judge To Issue Bench Warrant for No-Show Jan. 6 Rioter Accused of Assaulting Police
Lee Stutts, a former U.S. Marine accused of assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, failed to appear in court on Wednesday — prompting a federal judge to tell his attorney that a bench warrant will be issued for Stutts’ arrest before the end of the day.
She also alluded cryptically to threats Stutts may have made against himself and others.
“We’re missing one key person,” U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan remarked to Stutts’ defense attorney Stanley Woodward as she glanced around the courtroom.
Chutkan did not go into specifics about the threats, but said Stutts had expressed “homicidal and suicidal” sentiments, including statements about threatening to “kill people in this courtroom,” she said.
The 46-year-old North Carolina man is facing 15 charges, including for assaulting, resisting or impeding officers at the Capitol and using a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors say footage from the Capitol attack shows Stutts hoisting a large metal billboard with Donald Trump’s name on it and using it as a battering ram against police. He is also accused of using a bike rack to assault police.
Prosecutors allege that Stutts was one of the rioters who “led the way in the final breaking of the police line on the West Plaza,” according to court records. Some of the most brutal violence of the day occurred there.
On Wednesday, Woodward told Chutkan that, to the best of his knowledge, Stutts was still wearing an ankle monitor and could be located and that he had encouraged him “not to do anything with his ankle monitor.”
“Where he is supposed to be is right here,” Chutkan replied.
Stutts was first charged in September 2023 and arrested that November in North Carolina. When he finally was sent to Washington, D.C., to appear before a magistrate judge in 2023 for his arraignment, his pretrial release went unopposed by prosecutors. All they demanded at the time was that he not violate the law and submit to drug tests.
But by May 2023, Stutts’ troubles had deepened. A superseding indictment was issued, adding the assault charges to existing misdemeanor charges he already faced. Then, a second superseding indictment was returned against Stutts on Nov. 6. This time, prosecutors dropped an obstruction charge recently narrowed by the Supreme Court in Fischer v. United States, but the assault charges stuck. Stutts was put on home detention.
According to the Justice Department, by December 2023, Stutts tested positive for methamphetamine and received a warning from the court that if he didn’t get clean, his pretrial release would be revoked.
He was asked to retest in April, May and June but, again, he tested positive. The court ordered him to undergo substance abuse treatment at a facility in North Carolina in June. Prosecutors said he never showed up.
Stutts was warned repeatedly that his pretrial release conditions would be revoked. This July, court records show Stutts told a substance abuse counselor that he had “no desire to stop” after he tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana.
At the courthouse in Washington on Wednesday, Chutkan expressed dismay about the reports of his drug use but said her primary concern was the information she had received about Stutts’ commentary about proceedings.
Woodward told the judge it may be appropriate to issue a mental competency exam for Stutts once he is apprehended. The defense lawyer also said he had “no problem” getting Stutts on the phone but getting him to the courthouse was another matter altogether.
“He knows there’s no excuse,” Woodward said.
The defense attorney said that Stutts’ cousin had offered to drive the former Marine to Washington from North Carolina for Wednesday’s hearing but that Stutts never showed up.
Her eyes trained on Woodward, Chutkan told the defense attorney it was clear that Stutts “is not wanting to deal with the ramifications of his actions” and she suggested that perhaps Stutts was “in the throes of drug use” when venting online about harming himself or others.
“If he’s talking about suicide, or homicide, I’m concerned about the safety of the arresting agents,” Chutkan said. “Given my concern … I’ll view it in his favor if he turns himself in and avoids any escalation.”
Chutkan said she would issue a warrant before the end of the day but asked Woodward to call Stutts immediately after the hearing Wednesday morning to convey to him that his cooperation with arresting officers will be viewed favorably.
