Georgia Jan. 6 defendant ‘may be interested’ in taking case to trial, after rejecting 2023 plea deal

Caption

In this frame from U.S. Capitol surveillance video, the man in the yellow circle is identified by the FBI as Dominic Box, entering through the Senate wing door of the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Credit: FBI

The vast majority of people charged in federal prosecutors' sprawling Jan. 6 insurrection docket have pleaded guilty rather than take their chances at trial and risk a stiffer sentence — but a former Savannah man has now signaled he may take that latter and riskier route.

Dominic Box, who at the time of the insurrection was a Savannah car salesman, entered a plea of not guilty during a Thursday arraignment in Washington, D.C., on recently upgraded federal charges for his alleged role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Official minutes from the arraignment state that Box “has indicated that he may be interested in proceeding to a stipulated trial.”

A stipulated trial is one in which both the prosecution and the defense agree beforehand on certain facts or matters of law, such that they do not need to be argued during the trial.

Court records indicate that Box last year tentatively agreed to a plea deal before backing out, citing a pending U.S. Supreme Court case challenging the applicability of the most serious felony count he currently faces: obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress.

But even if the high court rules in Fischer v. United States that that particular charge cannot be applied to Jan. 6 defendants, such a decision would not invalidate the remaining two felony counts against Box of civil disorder, nor would it affect his four misdemeanor charges.

It is still possible that prosecutors may offer Box a new plea deal before a trial date, which has not been set. However, a court filing earlier this year showed that they rejected a counterproposal by Box for a more lenient deal.

The minutes from Thursday's arraignment state that the prosecution and the defense “contemplated” holding a stipulated trial during the week of June 17.

The court record also indicated that all discovery has been provided in the case, but that more pretrial work remains, as Box's attorney plans to file non-evidentiary motions.

Such motions could — whether or not by intent — effectively delay the case, pushing it closer to the November presidential election.

Trump — whose own election subversion case has been put on pause by the conservative-supermajority Supreme Court — has repeatedly vowed to “free” Jan. 6 defendants and issue pardons if he is reelected.

At Box's arraignment, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered that the parties submit a proposed pretrial schedule to her by April 8, ahead of a scheduled May 17 status hearing in Washington, D.C.