WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Hundreds of rioters have been charged, convicted and sentenced for joining the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. Unlike their cases, Samuel Lazar\u2019s appears to have been resolved in secret \u2014 kept under seal with no explanation, even after his release from prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lazar, 37, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was arrested in July 2021 on charges that he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, dressed in tactical gear and protective goggles, and used chemical spray on officers who were desperately trying to beat back the angry Donald Trump supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no public record of a conviction or a sentence in Lazar\u2019s court docket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that the man was released from federal custody this week after completing a sentence for assaulting or resisting a federal officer. Lazar was sentenced in Washington\u2019s federal court on March 17 to 30 months in prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons, but there\u2019s no public record of such a hearing. He had been jailed since July 2021.
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Questions about Lazar\u2019s case have been swirling for months, but the details of his conviction and sentence have not been previously reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Justice Department has refused to say why the case remains under wraps, and attorneys for Lazar did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press. The judge overseeing Lazar\u2019s case in May rejected a request from media outlets \u2014 including the AP \u2014 to release any sealed records that may exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case is raising concerns about transparency in the massive Jan. 6 investigation \u2014 the largest in Justice Department history. Court hearings and records \u2014 including sentencing hearings and plea agreements \u2014 are supposed to be open and available to the public and the press unless there\u2019s a compelling need for secrecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lazar was transferred in July from FCI Fort Dix \u2014 a federal lockup in New Jersey \u2014 to \u201ccommunity confinement\u201d overseen by the Bureau of Prisons, which means he was either in home confinement or a halfway house, according to a prisons system spokesperson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A social media post from Lazar\u2019s sister that month shows Lazar standing outside waving an American flag with the caption: \u201cHallelujah Praise God free at last \u2026 #walkingfree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secret plea hearings are not unheard of, though the records are often unsealed ahead of sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an unrelated example, the guilty plea by George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign adviser who triggered the Russia influence investigation, was entered under seal and kept out of view for weeks \u2014 until special counsel Robert Mueller disclosed that Papadopoulos had admitted making false statements to the FBI. Subsequent proceedings, including his sentencing hearing, were matters of public record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George Washington University criminal law professor Randall Eliason, who spent 12 years as a federal prosecutor in Washington, said he couldn\u2019t remember any case during his Justice Department tenure in which a sentencing hearing and sentence were placed under seal. Eliason said it\u2019s possible that \u201ceither there\u2019s some kind of security concern about him personally, or maybe more likely that he\u2019s cooperating in some respect that they don\u2019t want the people he\u2019s cooperating against to know about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But many Jan. 6 defendants have cooperation deals with the government, and their cases haven\u2019t been resolved in secret. Defendants who agree to cooperate with prosecutors often get their sentencing hearings delayed until they finish cooperating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe fact that he also got sentenced, went to prison and is already out, that whole situation is just unusual,\u201d Eliason said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lazar is among more than 1,100 defendants charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack. Outside the Capitol that day, Lazar was carrying a bullhorn and wearing ski googles, a tactical vest with a radio attached and camouflage-style face paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Videos captured Lazar approaching police lines outside the Capitol and discharging an orange chemical irritant toward officers, an FBI agent said in a court filing. An officer\u2019s body camera showed Lazar retreat down steps after police deployed a chemical at him. Lazar then turned and sprayed two officers, according to the agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lazar shouted profane insults at police through the bullhorn, calling them tyrants and yelling, \u201cLet\u2019s get their guns!\u201d Another video captured Lazar saying, \u201cThere\u2019s a time for peace and there\u2019s a time for war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather in Washington, D.C, ordered Lazar detained pending trial, ruling that he posed a threat to public safety. The magistrate noted that Lazar also had been photographed posing with firearms on a public street during an August 2020 rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January 2022, a new indictment charged Lazar with five counts, including felony offenses. He pleaded not guilty to the charges the following month. In March 2022, prosecutors and Lazar\u2019s attorney asked for more time \u201cto negotiate a disposition of the matter short of trial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June 2022, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson canceled a status conference for Lazar\u2019s case because he wasn\u2019t available to appear by video from jail. That\u2019s the last publicly available court filing to address the status of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In April of this year, attorneys for a coalition of news outlets \u2014 including the AP \u2014 asked the judge to unseal any records related to a change of plea or sentencing hearing for Lazar, noting a March NBC News story \u2014 citing an anonymous source \u2014 that said Lazar was scheduled to be sentenced in a secret hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe public docket provides no explanation as to why, despite the strong presumption of transparency in this Circuit, these judicial records are not available to the public,\u201d the coalition lawyers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Lazar\u2019s secret sentencing, his brother told Lancaster Online \u2014 which first reported his release from prison in July \u2014- that their mother was \u201ceven more confused,\u201d adding \u201cshe has no idea if and when he\u2019s coming home, assuming he was actually given a sentence today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May, Judge Jackson denied the news outlets\u2019 request after a prosecutor and defense attorney argued against releasing the records, though she said the case law cited by the press coalition \u201cplainly recognizes that there may be circumstances where a need for secrecy can be outweighed by competing significant interests.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jackson said there were no \u201cundocketed\u201d records in this or any other case pending before her, adding that \u201cnothing has been sealed in this case without leave of court.\u201d But the judge said the news outlets could renew their request, setting a Sept. 29 deadline for its lawyers to file \u201can updated status report setting forth their position or positions on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n