An Olyphant woman accused in the Jan. 6 riot no longer faces a potentially far longer prison sentence.
At the request of a federal prosecutor, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson dismissed a felony charge against Deborah Lynn Lee on Friday, Lee’s 58th birthday.
The dismissed felony was obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
That count accused Lee of blocking Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote that confirmed President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over ex-President Donald Trump.
Lee still faces misdemeanor counts of entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building
The first two are punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. The others are punishable by up to six months in prison and fines of up to $5,000, according to federal law.
In all, she faces up three years in prison and fines of up to $210,000 in fines instead of 23 years in prison and fines of up to $460,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Diamond did not explain why he asked for the felony’s dismissal, but Jackson had given Diamond until Friday to explain how a June 28 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affected Lee’s case.
The Supreme Court ruled Joseph Fischer, a former Lebanon County police officer accused of Jan. 6 rioting, could not be charged with the felony because prosecutors did not establish he tampered with evidence as the obstruction count requires.
Over 300 of the more than 1,400 Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump, faced the same felony count.
In a statement after the ruling, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said all the defendants whose cases remain pending still face other charges.
Prosecutors originally charged Lee with only the other counts, not obstruction.
They added obstruction in April 2023. Lee’s lawyer argued the prosecution did that because Lee refused to plead guilty and wanted a trial. That amounted to trying to deny her the right of due process, attorney John Pierce argued.
He termed the obstruction charge as “vindictiveness and retaliation masked as trial preparation” because no new evidence surfaced after the original charges.
Diamond denied vindictiveness. He said Lee rejected plea bargain proposals more than a year earlier and contended the prosecution’s understanding of her involvement had evolved.
Jackson sided with the prosecution and allowed the charge to stand, but the Supreme Court ruling altered the case circumstances.
On July 1, three days after the ruling, Jackson ordered Diamond to explain its effect on Lee’s case by July 15. On July 10, Diamond said the Department of Justice was still assessing the effects and asked for more time. On July 23, Jackson extended the deadline to Friday.
The same day, Lee’s lawyer, William Shipley, asked for dismissal of the obstruction count. On deadline day, Diamond asked for dismissal, too.
The FBI says Lee and hundreds of others illegally smashed their way into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Agents accuse Lee of joining a mob that tried to storm the U.S. House chambers.
“I’m live. I’m at the Capitol doors. We’re all the way inside the building. We’re trying to get in. We got the glass broken,” Lee said in a video posted on her Facebook account, according to the federal complaint. “I broke into congress (sic) and there were guns on us,” she wrote in private messages to other Facebook users. “It’s our house. Our capital (sic). We had every right to occupy.”
The trial on the other counts remains scheduled for Sept. 4 in Washington, D.C.
