A judge has denied the Justice Department's request to use the so-called "death list" of state/local officials during the trial of Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, ABC News reported.
Senior Editor for Law & Crime Marisa Sarnoff tweeted on Thursday: "[District Judge Amit] Mehta believes the relevance of the note is low and risk of bias is high. Caldwell's 'Death List' will not be allowed as evidence.
And she added in another tweet: "Mehta denied the motion: 'At most, what it shows is that Mr. Caldwell maybe — maybe, at most — that he had some [thoughts of] violence. Maybe. But the note itself has seemingly nothing to do w the alleged conspiracy.'"
Caldwell is a retired Navy lieutenant commander. He once worked for the FBI, and was indicted earlier this year with Jessica Watkins and Donovan Crowl on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, destroying government property and entering a restricted building in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, Reuters said.
In court filings, prosecutors said the FBI had found a document entitled "Death List" during a search of Caldwell's home with the handwritten name of an election official in another state.
Prosecutors have not identified the person, except to say the official had received some publicity because of the 2020 presidential election and is not from Caldwell's home state of Virginia.
And The Washington Post had noted that prosecutors said a law enforcement search on Jan. 19, 2021, of the Virginia home of Caldwell, found the document that included the words "Death List" handwritten across the top with the name of a Georgia election official and a purported family member of the official.
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