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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A federal judge has granted a delay in the sentencing of Eric Barber, a former Parkersburg councilman charged with surging into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Barber’s sentencing, following his guilty plea, had been set for this week. But federal prosecutors, with cooperation from Barber’s attorney, asked for a delay because one of the attorneys experienced a death in the family.
Federal Judge Christopher Cooper rescheduled the sentencing for 3 p.m. May 12 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Barber pleaded guilty last Dec. 16 to two federal misdemeanors. One is a count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building. The other is theft, an accusation that Barber stole a charging station belonging to a CSPAN employee.
In exchange for his guilty plea, additional charges originally filed against Barber are being dropped. He also gives up his right to a jury trial, where he might have testified in his own defense.
“When I entered the Capitol building, I knew we weren’t supposed to be there,” Barber told Judge Cooper while pleading guilty.
Barber participated in an interview earlier this year with “The Intercept” and “100 Days in Appalachia,” discussing his political evolution from a local council member supported by progressives to a Trump supporter surging into the U.S. Capitol.
He described making the decision to go to Washington, D.C., “just as soon as he called. As soon as Trump said ‘I want you to come.’”
As images spread of the people inside the Capitol, local people identified a man who looked a lot like Barber wearing a green combat-style helmet and a military-style field jacket. It turns out that was Barber.
In a YouTube video called “Shooting and Storming of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.,” the same man in a crowded doorway says “They’re giving us the building?” He then taps the helmet with both hands and begins moving toward the front as the crowd chants, “Break it down, break it down.”
Hundreds of people now face charges from the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
A mob storming the U.S. Capitol that day disrupted the constitutional duty of counting Electoral College votes and prompted the evacuations of representatives, senators and Vice President Mike Pence. One woman was fatally shot while trying to climb into the chambers, three others died from “medical emergencies” and more than 100 police officers were injured.
Several West Virginians face charges from that day’s events. They include George Tanios, a Morgantown sandwich shop operator accused in the assault of three Capitol police officers with pepperspray, former state Delegate Derrick Evans of Wayne County, who resigned after being charged, and college senior Courtright of Hurricane.
Courtright has been serving that at FDC Philadelphia and is scheduled for release on Tuesday.
Evans pleaded guilty earlier this month to a civil disorder charge. A sentencing hearing has been set for 12:30 p.m. June 26.
Tanios, is set for trial June 6. Tanios is accused of collaborating in the assault of U.S. Capitol police officers with pepperspray.