Chicago man released early from Jan. 6 riot sentence recorded himself raiding Pelosi's office: VIDEO

ByBarb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Tom Jones and Chuck Goudie WLS logo
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Chicago man recorded himself raiding Pelosi's office in Jan. 6 riot
Chicago man Kevin Lyons, who was released early from his January 6 riot prison sentence, recorded a video of himself ransacking Nancy Pelosi's office.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Behind-the-scenes video shot by a Capitol rioter from Chicago's Northwest Side shows the ransacking of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on January 6, 2021.

The nearly 10-minute personal video, obtained by the ABC7 I-Team, was shot by Kevin Lyons, who was sentenced to four years in prison but was released Wednesday after only serving a year.

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Lyons' video wasn't played in the case against him because he waived his right to a jury trial. The I-Team obtained the video after it was used in the trial of another rioter.

The footage starts in the hallways of Congress and then goes straight into then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's private space in the U.S. Capitol. It shows rioters surging past a sole policeman on January 6, 2021, and into her office.

Led by a Donald Trump flagbearer, some people in helmets and body armor can be seen carrying sticks and other makeshift weapons.

The crowds are so tight, the corridor in the video resembles a bathroom line in an old ballpark, but it quickly becomes evident the crowd is inside a national treasure, passing historical displays. Some insurgents veered into leadership offices.

Five minutes into the video, Lyons follows intruders up some stairs, near the Rotunda, and into Pelosi's office as the crowd is heard chanting, "Nancy, Nancy, Nancy...," and once inside, the group pillaged the outer office and her personal work quarters.

One rioter is heard saying, "We're in Nancy Pelosi's office!"

Many are seen in the video recording themselves and others.

Lyons' camera kept on rolling, even as he is seen reflected in a gold-framed mirror and then seen picking the pocket of one worker's jacket, walking off with a wallet.

SEE ALSO | First rioter to enter Capitol during Jan. 6 attack is sentenced to over 4 years in prison

In a selfie photo, displayed in court documents, Lyons was also seen with a prized Pelosi possession, a photo of her with civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis.

Lyons was eventually arrested, convicted and sentenced to more than four years, but his sole felony for obstruction is now likely to be thrown out because of a recent Supreme Court ruling.

A judge has freed Lyon's from prison, saying one year of a four year term is enough.

When asked if Lyons could have been charged with breaking and entering , former federal prosecutor and ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer said, "That is potentially what he could have been charged with, potentially some more enhanced versions of the other statutes that are out there among all the January 6 defendants, he has the less among the lesser sympathetic cases, given where he was and ad what he did."

Lyons is among several hundred defendants from Jan. 6 who were charged with obstructing the certification of the 2020 election.

The Supreme Court has ruled prosecutors went too far in using obstruction laws in Jan. 6 cases.