(NEW YORK) — Record-high travel numbers are possible this Fourth of July holiday.
Here’s what to know before you head to the airport or hit the highway:
Air travel
According to Expedia, Saturday, June 29, will be the busiest day in the airports before the Fourth of July.
Wednesday, July 3, is the busiest day to leave for vacation and Sunday, July 7, and Monday, July 8, are the busiest days to fly home, according to Hopper.
United Airlines said it expects to fly a record 5 million passengers from Friday, June 28, to Monday, July 8. United predicts June 29 and July 7 will be its busiest days.
American Airlines anticipates its busiest Fourth of July ever, with more than 7.2 million customers across 70,000 flights — up 8% from last year.
Delta Air Lines said it’s forecasting 5.8 million customers between June 28 and July 7 — up 6% from last year.
AAA said domestic airfare is 2% cheaper this year compared to last year, with the average price of a domestic round-trip ticket at $800.
If you’re looking to book a last-minute getaway, Hopper recommends leaving on Thursday, July 4, and returning on Tuesday, July 9.
The most-searched U.S. destinations are New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami and Orlando, Florida, according to Hopper.
The busiest U.S. airports are expected to be Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Denver International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, according to Hopper.
Road travel
A record 60.6 million people are expected to hit the road for the Fourth of July — up 2.8 million travelers compared to last year, according to AAA.
The worst traffic is expected on July 3 and July 7, according to transportation analytics company INRIX. But if you still need to drive on those days, the best time on July 3 is before noon and the best time on July 7 is before 11 a.m.
Monday, July 1, is the best day to be on the roads, according to INRIX.
The highest demand for rental cars is in Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, AAA said, citing its rental partner, Hertz. The busiest days to get a rental car will be June 28, June 29 and July 3.
(UTICA, N.Y.) — New York State Attorney General Letitia James said her office is launching an investigation into the fatal police shooting of a 13-year-old boy who allegedly pointed a replica handgun at officers during an encounter in Utica.
James’s announcement came a day after hundreds of people attended a community vigil for 13-year-old Nyah Mway, who was killed Friday night.
Citing New York state executive law, James said the Office of Special Investigation, which is part of her office, assesses every incident reported to it where a police officer “may have caused the death of a person by an act or omission.”
The shooting unfolded around 10:18 p.m. Friday when the Utica officers, who were part of the police’s Crime Prevention Unit, conducted a stop of two people as part of an undisclosed police investigation, the Utica Police Department said.
During the stop, the 13-year-old, who was identified as Nyah Mway, allegedly fled from officers who chased him, according to the police. Nyah allegedly pointed what appeared to be a handgun at the officers, which prompted one of the officers to fire one shot at the teen, according to investigators.
The Utica Department of Public Safety identified the three officers in a statement as Patrick Husnay, a 6-year veteran of the Utica Police Department, who fired his duty weapon striking the juvenile. Officers Bryce Patterson, a 4-year veteran of the police department, and Andrew Citriniti, who has been on the police force, 2 1/2 -and-a-half years, were also identified as being involved incident. Citriniti previously served with the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office.”
The mortally wounded boy was taken to Wynn Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Investigators uncovered “a replica GLOCK 17 Gen 5 handgun with a detachable magazine” following the shooting, investigators said.
Utica Police Chief Mark Williams told reporters on Saturday the replica firearm appeared to be a pellet gun. James said in her statement Sunday that offiers recovered a “BB gun” at the scene.
“Our thoughts are with the family of the deceased juvenile, as well as our officers involved in this incident,” the Utica Police Department said in a statement.
Authorities released footage of the incident from Officer Patterson’s body camera.
“As will be illustrated in the body worn camera (BWC) footage … when the officers asked and went to pat frisk Nyah Mway, he immediately fled on foot. While fleeing he produced a replica GLOCK pellet gun from the front of his body, and during the 51 and 53 second mark on PO Patterson’s BWC, points the weapon directly at PO Patterson and the other officers,” police said in their statement detailing the incident.
“As in any Officer Involved Shooting investigation it is within the purview of the NYS Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations to determine whether the shooting violated any state laws; however, we felt it prudent to ensure the entirety of the evidence we have available at this time is shared publicly – keeping with our commitment to transparency,” police continued in their statement.
The news conference held by Williams and Utica Mayor Michael P. Galime was disrupted multiple times by members of the public shouting at them.
Lay Htoo, Nyah’s uncle, told ABC News he saw the video and that he and his family were depressed and saddened.
“They make me feel very, very sad. You know, seeing one [of] my nephews [killed],” Htoo told ABC News of the images.
Htoo said his family was originally from Myanmar and his nephew moved to Utica eight years ago. Nyah had recently graduated from middle school, according to Htoo.
“My nephew is a very good kid. He’s never done this before,” Htoo said.
Hundreds of people filled the 900 block of Shaw Street for a community vigil for Mway on Saturday night, just about 24 hours after he was shot and killed. Several people spoke at the vigil, including members of the Mway’s family and other prominent members of the community.
Williams said the three officers involved in the incident were placed on paid administrative leave as the New York Attorney General’s Office conducts its investigation into the incident.
In addition to the AG’s probe, the Utica Police Department will be conducting its own investigation into the shooting.
“Additionally, we will work closely and openly with the City of Utica Public Safety Advisory Committee. We value their mission and want to ensure through multiple facets the community is fully informed of the facts of this incident,” the police said in a statement.
Williams said police would be releasing more information and details to the public in the coming days including the body camera footage from the incident.
(NEW YORK) — The Fourth of July holiday is stacking up to be a scorcher for most of the nation.
Numerous record temperatures are expected to be broken as highs in California are forecast to stay in the triple digits through Independence Day and beyond, and hot, humid weather down South will make some places like New Orleans feel close to 120 degrees.
California, particularly cities in the San Joaquin Valley, is expected to see temperatures soar past the 110 mark for multiple days this week.
In Palm Springs, thermometers could reach 115 degrees, and similar temperatures are expected for neighboring states Arizona and Nevada.
Both Las Vegas and Phoenix are forecast to hit 115 around the holiday.
Factoring in the heat index, the nation’s southern states are forecast to endure hot, sticky weather through this week. The heat index, also known as the apparent temperature, is what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, according to the National Weather Service.
On Sunday, an excessive heat warning was issued for the Lower Mississippi River Valley, where the heat index could reach up to 118 degrees. New Orleans is facing a heat index of up to 118 both on Sunday and Monday.
Heat advisories are in effect for much of the East Coast, as well. In the Carolinas, the heat index will make it feel like 110 on Sunday, while Virginia will feel like 108, and in Philadelphia and central New Jersey, the heat index will be around 103 on Sunday.
Meanwhile, hot weather up and down the East Coast is expected to give way to severe weather Sunday.
More than 60 million people along the Eastern Seaboard from North Carolina to Maine are expected to be in the storm zone Sunday afternoon.
The East Coast storms are forecast to form under hot and humid conditions. The strongest storms are expected to arrive between 2 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — Last June, the Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.
The court held, in a 6-3 decision, that Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s admissions programs, which had accounted for race at various stages in the process, violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Now, students applying to post-secondary schools following the court’s decision are navigating a new landscape.
David Jiang’s high school graduating class is the first to apply to college since the Supreme Court decision. Jiang, 18, whose parents immigrated from China more than 20 years ago, said Harvard University had been his dream school.
“I was always aiming for the castle on the hill,” Jiang said. “I was always trying to go for Harvard.”
However, Harvard was part of last year’s historic Supreme Court decision that brought a policy change in college admissions, leaving uncertainty about the future of campus diversity.
Admissions officers can no longer consider race as part of a student’s application, but students still have the option to share that information in their essays.
Jiang, who applied early to Harvard last year, said he decided to lean into his Chinese American heritage in his application.
“It’s just a huge part of my identity,” Jiang told “Nightline.” “If a school does not want to admit me because I’m Asian American, then there’s not much I can do about that, because it’s the part of me that I just can’t get rid of.”
Jiang attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City, one of the top public schools in the country. He says he scored 1560 on the SAT, played the baritone saxophone in the NYC All-City Latin Jazz Ensemble and was a team captain of the New York City Math Team.
Among the over dozen schools Jiang applied to, many rejected or waitlisted him, including Harvard.
“I feel like by not getting into Harvard, I was sort of disappointing [my parents],” Jiang said. “But more importantly, I was disappointing myself.”
Adam Mortara, the lead counsel who helped strike down affirmative action on behalf of Students for Fair Admissions, claimed Harvard had previously unfairly held Asian American applicants to a higher standard.
“[Admissions penalty] was predominantly centered in the so-called ‘personal rating,’” said Mortara. “Where Asian applicants were given lower personal ratings than white applicants, African American applicants or Hispanic applicants.”
According to Harvard’s student newspaper, The Crimson, the so-called “personal rating” could “include traits like humor, kindness, sensitivity and leadership.”
“I think the stereotype is that Asian people are reserved, stick to themselves and just do math problems in their free time,” Jiang said.
While Jiang does not believe race played a role in his rejection from Harvard, he thinks that implicit bias is nearly impossible to erase.
“I think that there’s still this preconceived notion that Asians are so-and-so, and I feel like I did have to prove that I’m not the stereotypical Asian,” Jiang said.
Harvard has denied any bias or discrimination against Asian American applicants in their admissions process. In a statement to ABC News, Harvard claims in part they have “taken several steps to arrive in compliance with the ruling from the Supreme Court. These changes have been made across our recruitment, application and admissions practices.”
However, many students of color are still concerned about campus diversity in a post-affirmative action landscape.
“There is this real threat of the proportion of Black students at Harvard decreasing over the years,” said Clyve Lawrence, a rising senior at Harvard. “I feel concerned about a chilling effect that Black students who otherwise would have applied now are worried that they’ll be facing disadvantages because of this decision.”
Some students worry that without affirmative action, the odds would be stacked against them.
“There are already so many obstacles that disproportionately affect students of color,” said Joely Castillo, a Brown University transfer student.
Castillo said she had a difficult upbringing. After her father was arrested and imprisoned, her mother raised three girls on her own. After high school, she immediately started working multiple jobs to help support her family.
Almost a decade later, Castillo enrolled in a community college and set her sights on a four-year university. She workshopped her approach at the Kaplan Educational Foundation, a nonprofit that works with underprivileged community college students.
“I had to play catchup to the other applicants – students that have had the opportunity to have tutors and family supporting them throughout the college application,” said Castillo. “Whereas I was kind of going in blind.”
Castillo ultimately decided to write about her cultural background in her applications. With a 4.0 GPA, Castillo was accepted by Princeton University, Smith College, Brown University, and other schools.
Castillo ended up choosing Brown University, but says she still worries about diversity on campus.
“If we don’t continue to try and elevate students of color, our campuses are going to look the way that they did many years before, where there were less students of color,” Castillo said.
According to a 2017 New York Times analysis, Asian enrollment largely increased at top colleges over a 35-year period with affirmative action, while Hispanic and Black students mostly remained disproportionately underrepresented.
A survey by the Gallup Center on Black Voices shows nearly 70% of Americans supported the end of affirmative action. Some who fought for its end say the college admissions process won’t truly be fair until schools stop giving preference to children of alumni, called legacies.
“There’s no reason that one child should be afforded an admissions preference to an elite university because their parent went there,” said Mortara. “As opposed to the child of say, a second-generation immigrant family whose parents did not have the opportunity to attend that institution.”
The Department of Education launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard’s use of legacy admissions last year. A number of elite schools have already terminated legacy admissions, including Johns Hopkins University and Amherst College.
States like Virginia and Maryland have also joined Colorado to ban the practice at its public universities. More states, including California, New York and Massachusetts, are considering similar proposals. But some alumni of color and alumni who were the first ones in their families to attend college are opposing the ban.
“I think it’s a really big deal for us as American descendants of the enslaved to be legacy and legacy families,” said Amanda Calhoun, a second-generation Yale graduate, whose father also graduated from Yale.
Calhoun and her father said they feel affirmative action and its outreach programs were transformative.
“My concern would be we would see less outreach,” said Calhoun. “We’ll see less Black students, less minoritized students that are feeling empowered to apply to a place like Yale and other elite institutions.”
Yale is currently reviewing its preference for legacy applicants. But for now, the policy remains in place.
Harvard told ABC News that 23.4% of the Class of 2028 has no financial contribution from their parents, and just over half will receive need-based aid, with an average parent contribution of $15,500.
Additionally, Harvard says 20.5% of its incoming class will be students who are the first generation in their family to graduate from a four-year college or equivalent.
“I know that sometimes college is random, and the admissions decision does not always pan out the way you like it,” said Jiang, who is now a member of the Class of 2028 at Duke University. “I was glad I finally got into a school that I would love to go to.”
ABC News’ Rosa Kim and Jaclyn Skurie contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Four people were killed and nine others injured after a vehicle crashed into a storefront in New York on Friday, authorities said.
The “mass casualty” incident occurred in Deer Park on Long Island Friday afternoon, Deer Park Fire Department Chief Dominic Albanese said during a press conference.
A minivan traveled nearly all the way through to the back of a nail salon, he said.
Four people were found dead upon arrival, all located inside a nail salon, Albanese said. It is unclear whether the victims were employees or customers, he said.
Nine people, were transported to area hospitals, including one by aviation, Albanese said. The driver was “partially conscious” following the crash and was apart of the nine transported to a hospital, he said.
The cause of the crash remains unknown. Authorities are investigating while the incident was intentional, Albanese said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(SANTA FE, N.M.) — A New Mexico judge denied Alec Baldwin’s bid to drop his involuntary manslaughter charge over firearm evidence stemming from the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of “Rust” before his trial starts next month.
In their request to dismiss the indictment, Baldwin’s attorneys claimed the state “intentionally” destroyed key evidence — the firearm involved in the shooting — denying them the chance to review potentially exculpatory evidence.
Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer denied the request in an order issued on Friday, following arguments during a virtual hearing on Monday.
Baldwin’s trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on July 9.
The actor was practicing a cross-draw in a church on the set of the Western film when the Colt .45 revolver fired a live round, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin, 66, who was also a producer on the film, was indicted by a grand jury on involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins’ death earlier this year, after prosecutors previously dropped the charge. He pleaded not guilty.
Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the firearm is “central” to the state’s theory of guilt, but that they were denied the opportunity to examine it themselves and that FBI forensic testing that damaged the gun was unnecessary.
“They understood that this was potentially exculpatory evidence and they destroyed it anyway,” Baldwin’s attorney, John Bash, said during Monday’s hearing.
Baldwin has maintained that he did not pull the trigger of the firearm, though the FBI forensic report determined that the gun could not have been fired without pulling the trigger.
Bash argued that there’s reason to believe that further testing would show the firearm was capable of discharging without the pull of the trigger.
“The prosecution denied the criminal defendant the opportunity to see it, to test it,” Bash said. “It’s outrageous, and it requires dismissal.”
Prosecutors argued that there was no perceived exculpatory value of the firearm apparent to law enforcement following the shooting.
“The fact that this gun was unfortunately damaged during the accidental discharge testing does not deprive the defendant of the evidence that they can use effectively in cross-examining,” Erlinda Ocampo Johnson said during Monday’s hearing.
Johnson also argued there is “ample evidence” of the defendant’s guilt in this case in regards to his “reckless conduct.”
Marlowe Sommer’s ruling comes after she denied last week another defense request to dismiss the indictment. In that motion, Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the state failed to allege a criminal offense because Baldwin had no reason to believe the gun might contain live rounds and that the manipulation of the weapon could pose a “substantial risk” to Hutchins.
In her official order denying that motion, released on Friday, Marlow Sommer wrote that whether Baldwin had a criminally negligent state of mind “is a question of fact for the jury to decide.”
The judge also denied last month another request by the defense to dismiss the indictment in which Baldwin’s attorneys argued that the prosecution engaged in “bad faith” by failing to provide the grand jury with sufficient information.
Marlowe Sommer additionally denied last week a request from the state to use immunity to compel testimony from the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, during Baldwin’s trial.
Gutierrez, 27, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting and sentenced in April to 18 months in prison, the maximum possible, in the shooting. She appealed her conviction in May.
Prosecutors sought immunity so that her testimony could not be used against her in her appeal. At a pretrial interview in May, Gutierrez asserted her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, prosecutors said.
In issuing her ruling, Marlowe Sommer noted that the armorer has indicated she won’t testify and that she hasn’t heard “anything that [Gutierrez] might testify to that someone else could not testify to.”
Gutierrez could still be called to testify but would speak without immunity.
Marlowe Sommer last week also allowed for the testimony at Baldwin’s trial of a “Rust” crew member who prosecutors said witnessed the on-set shooting and said he saw Baldwin pull the trigger.
Following Monday’s hearing, Baldwin’s attorneys filed another motion seeking to dismiss the indictment, alleging that the state violated its discovery obligations by delaying the disclosure of “critical evidence that is favorable to Baldwin’s defense and that fundamentally reshapes the way Baldwin would have prepared for trial.”
In a response to the motion filed Thursday, the state pushed back against the defense’s claims, saying it has “worked tirelessly to ensure that the defendant has every possible page of discovery, no matter how minuscule or immaterial,” and asked the court to deny the motion.
(WELLFLEET, Mass. ) — Some 125 dolphins are currently stranded on a beach near Wellfleet, Massachusetts, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The Atlantic white-sided dolphins are stranded at the Great Island at the Herring River — also known as the “Gut” — which is a very difficult location to access and is covered in “dangerous mud,” Stacey Hedman, director of communications for the IFAW, said in a statement on Friday.
Ten dolphins had died before IFAW staff even arrived on the scene, Hedman said, describing the incident as the single-largest mass stranding event the group has ever responded to.
Low tide occurred at 11:23 a.m., Hedman said. Given the large number of distressed dolphins, the plan is to triage and support the animals before attempting to refloat and herd as many as possible.
Aerial footage taken by ABC Boston affiliate WCVB showed dozens of immobile dolphins lying on the coast on Friday afternoon, many of them covered in wet towels placed there by rescuers to keep the dolphins’ skin from drying out.
The video captured volunteers arriving to begin assisting the dolphins. Soon after, more crowds arrived, also appearing to help.
At least 25 IFAW staff and 100 volunteers were on the scene by late afternoon, Hedman said. Using three small vessels in the water, they continued herding and using underwater pingers to encourage the dolphins to twin in the proper direction as high tide approached.
Although temperatures were cooler on Friday than in recent days, the dolphins risk getting sunburned and overheated should they remain on the beach until the tide rises, Hedman said. High tide was expected to occur at about 5:34 p.m.
The IFAW has had success in the past herding white-sided dolphins, Hedman said.
Cape Cod is a global stranding hotspot due to the curvature of the shores and the fluctuation of the tides, according to experts.
It is unclear why dolphins strand themselves, Hedman said.
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — A North Carolina mother has been arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter after she allegedly left her 8-year-old daughter in a hot car while at work and the girl died, police said.
Officers responded Wednesday evening to reports of a child in critical condition inside a vehicle in Charlotte, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
The child was transported to a hospital where she was pronounced dead early Thursday, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Her mother, 36-year-old Ashlee Stallings, allegedly left her daughter in the vehicle “in hot weather conditions” and the 8-year-old suffered a medical emergency, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said in a press release. Temperatures in Charlotte on Wednesday had reached the upper 90s.
Stallings allegedly told police she had left her daughter in her car while she was at work, running with the air on, but “believed the victim turned the car off because she was cold,” the arrest warrant affidavit stated.
When the mother returned to her vehicle about an hour and a half after last hearing from the girl via text, she found her daughter unresponsive on the backseat floorboard, taking shallow breaths and foaming at the mouth, according to the affidavit. Stallings used a hammer to break open the back window and then attempted to drive to a local hospital before stopping at a business for help, according to the affidavit.
“She admitted she knew the temperature was 94 degrees outside and that she should not have left the victim inside the car alone,” the affidavit stated.
Medical staff at the hospital told police the girl suffered brain herniation due to hyperthermia, according to the affidavit.
Stallings was arrested Thursday and charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse by willful act causing serious injury, online court records show.
Stallings was appointed a public defender during an initial court appearance on Thursday. Online court records do not list any attorney information.
She is being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center on a $250,000 bond, online jail records show. Her next court date has been scheduled for July 16.
The investigation remains ongoing, police said.
Amazon confirmed to ABC Charlotte affiliate WSOC that Stallings worked at an Amazon facility and said it is “working closely” with police as they investigate.
“This is an incredibly tragic incident,” Amazon said in a statement to WSOC. “During this difficult time, we’re supporting our employees and have made counseling resources widely available.
The incident marked at least the fifth hot car death so far this year, according to the nonprofit Kids and Car Safety.
It takes very little time for a car to get too hot for children. A car can heat to 124 degrees in only 30 minutes when it’s 90 degrees outside, according to the National Weather Service.
(YULEE, Fla.) — A man was fishing in Florida when a shark bit him, severely injuring his arm, officials said.
The man, who is in his 40s, was on a boat at the time of the attack, which unfolded around 11 a.m. Friday at West Rock near the port of Fernandina, which is north of Jacksonville near the Florida-Georgia border, Nassau County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Alicia Tarancon said.
A responding deputy boarded the man’s boat and applied a tourniquet to his right arm to slow the bleeding, Tarancon said.
The deputy then drove the boat to shore, where rescue crews were waiting, Tarancon said.
The victim was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, Tarancon said. He’s expected to recover, Tarancon added.
This attack comes after a well-known surfer and lifeguard was killed by a shark in Hawaii on Sunday.
Tamayo Perry, 49, had been a lifeguard with Honolulu Ocean Safety since 2016. He was a local surf coach and competed for years in the Pipeline Master Trials, according to his official bio on his coaching site. Perry appeared in the 2002 movie “Blue Crush,” along with episodes of “Hawaii Five-O” and “The Bridge,” according to IMDb.
“The world knew Tamayo as a surfer and an actor, but to those who knew him best, he was a man of deep faith … now taken too soon,” his wife, Emilia Perry, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “I feel so upset and devastated. But I also have a weird calmness in my heart knowing that he’s in a better place.”
ABC News’ Kori Skillman contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court’s ruling Friday narrowing a key obstruction statute used against more than 300 individuals charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol could affect dozens of cases brought by the Justice Department in the three years since prosecutors say a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters disrupted Congress’ certification of his election loss.
In a 6-3 opinion, the majority of the court ruled that prosecutors overstepped in using the charge against defendants in cases where defendants were unable to show their actions impaired the integrity of actual physical evidence used in a disrupted proceeding.
In a statement Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department would be taking “appropriate steps to comply with the Court’s ruling,” while noting the “vast majority” of the more than 1,400 defendants charged thus far in its Jan. 6 probe would remain unimpacted.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office for Washington, D.C., of the 249 cases where defendants have either been charged or convicted of the obstruction statute at issue, there are no cases in which it is the only criminal charge they faced.
“Today’s decision will most significantly impact a narrow band of cases: those where the only felony for which a defendant was convicted and sentenced was 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2),” the office said in a fact sheet sent to reporters. “In total, approximately 52 individuals have been convicted and sentenced on that charge and no other felony; of those individuals, only 27 are currently serving a sentence of incarceration — less than 2 percent of all charged cases arising from the Capitol Breach.”
Judges in D.C.’s district court overseeing the Capitol riot cases already began responding Friday to the court’s ruling, including in at least one case where a defendant was convicted of the obstruction statute alongside other felonies.
D.C. District Judge Dabney Friedrich issued an order for prosecutors and defense attorneys for convicted Jan. 6 rioter Guy Reffitt, who was the first Capitol breach defendant to take his case to trial, to confer and propose a schedule for future proceedings in the case in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Friedrich further told parties to contact the court to schedule a date for Reffitt’s resentencing.
In August of 2022, Reffitt was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on multiple felony counts, including the obstruction charge now impacted by the court’s ruling.
Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, prosecutors may still have a limited path to continue pushing for the charge’s application against defendants if they have evidence that a defendant intended to specifically prevent Congress from signing off on the physical electoral certification records used in the Jan. 6 proceedings.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson left open the possibility that even the defendant who brought the challenge at issue in Friday’s ruling, former police officer Joseph Fischer, could still be convicted of the charge after his case was remanded, should prosecutors be able to show his conduct “involved the impairment (or the attempted impairment) of the availability or integrity of things used during the January 6 proceeding.”
Such a reading of the statute could also help special counsel Jack Smith in his argument for the obstruction charge’s application against former President Donald Trump in his federal election interference case.
In a legal brief with the Supreme Court last year, Smith’s prosecutors said that even if the court sided with Fischer’s interpretation of the statute, it should not impact the two similar charges Smith indicted Trump over for his involvement in allegedly obstructing the Jan. 6 certification.
Their reasoning: While a case may be harder to make against individual rioters in obstructing or altering physical evidence connected to the proceeding, the Trump indictment does allege a tie to specific documents — the fraudulent certificates delivered by so-called “fake electors” that falsely certified a Trump victory in swing states he lost to Joe Biden.
