Richard "Bigo" Barnett of Gravette.

 

A Capitol police captain and a woman who worked in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office were among government witnesses today in the trial of Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the Gravette man charged in the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.

Advertisement

Online court records say a third witness, Gerald Stutte, also testified today in the trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

Barnett gained notoriety over a viral photograph in which he is seen propping his feet upon a desk in Pelosi’s office.

Advertisement

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Bill Bowden reported today that Stutte is an employee of the Bass Pro Shop in Rogers where Barnett bought a walking stick with a high-voltage stun gun attached, pepper spray and other items.

You can read the article here but may encounter a paywall. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/jan/11/fayetteville-man-us-capitol-police-captain-among-witnesses-in-barnetts-jan-6-trial/

Advertisement

The Democrat-Gazette reported that the government also played videos in which jurors heard Barnett admit he took an envelope from Pelosi’s desk because he said he cut his hand and got blood on it. In the videos, Barnett said he left a quarter to pay for the envelope, addressed to a congressman from the House speaker, the paper reported.

Emily Berret, an employee in Pelosi’s office at that time, testified Wednesday that she found a blood-stained quarter on her desk and a note that read, “Hey Nancy, Bigo was here, you biotch,” according to the Democrat-Gazette.

Advertisement

Barnett, 62, is charged with eight offenses, including theft of government property, entering the Capitol with a dangerous weapon, a stun gun; and obstruction of an official government proceeding: Congress’s meeting to certify the Electoral College vote count showing Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

In an unsuccessful motion filed earlier today, Barnett’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper to preclude what they called “irrelevant and highly prejudicial testimony that serves no probative value as to any fact in his case by [U.S. Capitol Police] Captain Carneysha Mendoza.

Advertisement

Court records say Mendoza ended up testifying today.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that the government had indicated that Mendoza “would be a fact witness to provide context for the entirety of the U.S. Capitol grounds” on that Jan. 6, even though the defense said the prosecution had “admitted that Captain Mendoza had no interaction with Mr. Barnett.”

Advertisement

Defense attorneys argued that Barnett wasn’t “at the entire Capitol grounds” and is instead accused of entering the building “in disregard of the evidence that he was pushed inside.” They said he’s also accused of “an alleged non-violent verbal engagement with a USCP officer in the Rotunda when he wanted to retrieve his flag” from Pelosi’s office.

Barnett’s attorneys have said Mendoza has no “relevant facts directly related to Mr. Barnett.” They also complained that in another Jan. 6 defendant’s trial, “she provided irrelevant and highly prejudicial testimony about an injury she alleges she suffered on January 6, 2021.”

“Any attempt by her to discuss her alleged injury can only be for the purpose of misleading the jury into falsely believing that Mr. Barnett was responsible or nearby when instead it is most likely her own police injured her,” the defense argued.

 

Advertisement