SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – A Rogersville man facing federal charges in the US Capitol riot on Jan. 6 was released from the Greene County Jail on bond Friday after appearing before a federal judge in Springfield.
Zachary Martin is charged with being on restricted buildings or grounds, unlawful activities on Capitol grounds and disorderly conduct and demonstrating in the Capitol.
Officers arrested Zachary Martin in southeast Springfield on Thursday. The FBI got a tip saying Martin had entered the US Capitol on January 6th and live streamed the event on Facebook.
Martin’s attorney, Dee Wampler, says Martin did not go to Washington, D.C. with the intent of going into the capitol, but the group mentality convinced him to enter.
“People were saying, “Come on in’ and you should think twice before you do anything like that. But it was, I think, the group think sort of took over,” Wampler says. “He went in and now he’s paying for it.”
Federal charging documents say a witness gave the FBI screenshots that had been circulating on Facebook from Martin’s livestream.
Wampler tells KY3 that Martin deleted his Facebook page four days after the riot.
“Hundreds of people, thousands, would’ve had access to his being there,” Wampler says. “It didn’t occur to him that he was ever gonna get prosecuted.”
Another witness told the FBI they met Martin at a bar in Springfield during the week leading up to January 6. During the conversation, they say Martin told them that he was going to travel to Washington, D.C.
Wampler says Martin decided to go to Washington, D.C. after hearing from former President Trump.
“He only watched one speech by President Trump and he said, “That sounds good to me. I like what the man said,” Wampler says. “Then, when the president invited people to Washington D.C., he and three other people took him up on it.”
If Martin is found guilty, Wampler says he can face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
“Should he have gone in? No,” Wampler says. “It was a situation where at that time the public was not invited into that area where he went in.”
His case is moved to federal court in Washington D.C. since that’s where the riot took place. Wampler says Martin will have an arraignment next week over Zoom so they don’t have to travel.
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