Watch: Video shows Rochester man taking shield from officer in Capitol siege, feds say

A collection of videos intended to be used as evidence against accused United States Capitol rioter Dominic Pezzola were released Tuesday evening by the government.

In the five video clips, the public is presented with a picture of what Pezzola, a 44-year-old from Rochester, is accused to have done during the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021.

The first video showa the moment Pezzola, in the middle of a chaotic scrum of rioters and police, took a riot shield from a U.S. Capitol Police officer. The government-provided video is slowed down and Pezzola is highlighted. 

Pezzola later used the shield to break open a Capitol building window. That gave rioters unfettered access to the interior.

Prosecutors have long asserted Pezzola is a danger as demonstrated by his actions on Jan. 6 and repeatedly stated that he should not be released before his trial.

He is charged with two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States; two counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding a Capitol Police officer and other charges. Pezzola pleaded not guilty in early May to an 11-count superseding indictment. He is charged along with two other members of the Proud Boys, William Pepe and Matthew Greene. 

In the second video, a nine-second clip, Pezzola is shown walking across the frame in possession of the riot shield. Someone off-screen asks, "You just stole a riot shield?" Another person remarks, "Yeah." 

"Wow," the person who asked the question concludes. It is, however, unclear who is speaking in the video and if one of the voices belongs to Pezzola.

The third clip shows the mob overwhelming a contingent of police officers guarding a set of Capitol stairs. The rioters push their way up the stairs, while Pezzola, still clutching the shield, is among the first to advance forward.

In the fourth video, rioters are now at the top of the stairs confronting a group of Capitol Police officers. At first, officers attempt to use a barricade, similar to a bicycle rack, to hold off rioters, who are shouting at officers. Pezzola is shown, still in possession of the shield, in the foreground with his back to the camera, prosecutors say.

Pezzola, again with his back to the camera in the fifth video, is in the mob trying to push past police. Chants of "PUSH PUSH" are heard. At the end, someone says, "I took this from a (expletive) cop, alright? Shut the (expletive) up." Again, it is unclear who is speaking.

The video were released after attorneys for a media contingent argued successfully that they should be seen by the public.

Pezzola and his co-defendants are due back in court via video conference at 2 p.m. Oct. 27 for a status hearing. 

Dominic Pezzola gets third detention hearing

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly has not yet ruled after a Sept. 22 hearing if Pezzola should be freed on bail and condition pending his trial. Kelly had earlier said Pezzola "was the tip of a spear that pierced the United States Capitol."

Pezzola has been held in custody since late January. Kelly earlier denied a bail application from Pezzola.

Pezzola's new attorneys, Steven Metcalf and Martin Tankleff, filed a 230-page motion for bail back in July. They argued he should be released on conditions pending his trial, stating his constitutional rights are being violated while being detained at the Washington D.C. Department of Corrections Central Treatment Facility. They asserted the conditions inside the D.C. jail are reprehensible and added their client doesn't have access to the materials that would allow him to participate in his own defense.

Evidence, however, shows Pezzola came to Washington “as a key member of a broader conspiracy to effectively steal one of our Nation’s crown jewels: the peaceful transition of power," Kelly wrote in an earlier ruling.

"The defendant fails to grapple with the strong evidence against him," prosecutors wrote in the Aug. 6 filing. Prosecutors argued there was "strong" evidence of Pezzola's "obstructive and destructive intent."

Prosecutors say Pezzola and others conspired, planned and then participated in an effort to interfere with Congress counting the Electoral College votes to certify President Joe Biden's victory.  The Proud Boys, a white supremacist extremist organization labeled as a hate group, used social media, text messaging, and encrypted applications to recruit and organize their efforts.

Attorneys indicated Pezzola's common-law wife Lisa Magee attended the Sept. 22 hearing. The couple shares two daughters.

Can jail conditions preclude pretrial detention?

Kelly asked Pezzola's attorneys and Assistant United States Attorney Erik Kenerson if either of them had found a case where a judge considered detention conditions as part of the federal Bail Reform Act to determine whether or not a defendant should remain detained prior to trial.

In both instances, the attorneys said they were unaware of an instance where someone was freed. Tankleff admitted he couldn't find precedent here, but said Pezzola's constitutional rights were being violated, meaning he was able to access and review evidence against him and that the conditions within the jail were inhumane.

"If there's a constitutional violation... the remedy is not to release him, the remedy is to fix the problem," Kelly said.

Kelly asked if Pezzola has availed himself of the jail policy to access discovery materials. Tankleff said his client hadn't. Kenerson also said Pezzola hasn't taken advantage of the means to review information.

The judge said the D.C. jail already has a policy to accommodate requests from detained defendants for access to evidence. 

"I don't want to put privileged, confidential information on a disk and take it to the D.C. jail because I don't trust them," Metcalf stated. "... That's why we're asking for an alternative. We're not asking for anything crazy. We're asking for Dom to review his discovery."

Kelly said Pezzola's attorneys were raising "real, legitimate issues" and promised to get answers. But he noted there needed to be new information or something not known at the time for him to reopen his earlier bail decision.

"The question is whether what you're laying out is something I can consider under the law," Kelly concluded.

Metcalf said both Pezzola's wife and mother would be willing to provide the collateral needed to meet bond. Metcalf reiterated that Pezzola is not an "articulable threat" and just wants to see his family again.

Contact Will Cleveland at wcleveland@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @willcleveland13. Thanks to our subscribers for supporting quality local journalism. If you aren’t a subscriber, please consider a digital subscription.