SC Citadel cadet who joined Jan. 6 Capitol riot could plead guilty
A Citadel cadet who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot may plead guilty instead of going to trial and contesting the charges, according to a court record in his case filed Friday.
Elias Irizarry, an upperclass Citadel cadet from York County, is slated to have a plea agreement hearing Oct. 26 before U.S. Judge Tanya Chutkan, according to a one-sentence public notice about his case.
It was not clear whether the hearing is to discuss a possible plea or whether Irizarry will actually plead guilty.
If Irizarry pleads guilty, he will be the 10th of 16 South Carolinians arrested in the Capitol breach to plead guilty to riot-related charges. None have chosen to go to trial.
Irizarry had previously rejected a plea deal and chose to be tried by a jury in the District of Columbia federal court, where rioters’ cases are being handled. His trial date was set for Jan. 3. Both prosecution and defense have been preparing for trial.
Irizarry faces four misdemeanor charges, none of them violent.
The charges are entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
He faces up to a year in prison.
In July, Elliott Bishai, a friend with whom Irizarry traveled to Washington and entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, was sentenced to two weeks in federal prison after pleading guilty to entering a restricted area. The judge noted he had no violent charges against him and had been living a life of service as a frontline wilderness firefighter since his arrest in South Carolina in March 2021.
At Bishai’s sentencing, his lawyer told the judge that because his client had participated in the riot, he had been denied a chance to enter an elite program for helicopter pilots in the U.S. Army.
The evidence against Bishai and Irizarry included photographs of them inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Investigators also discovered numerous Nazi and white supremacist videos on Bishai’s cellphone.
Although Bishai committed no violent offenses, Chutkan told him he was more than an onlooker.
“There is no mob without you,” she said.
In a May 3 hearing on Irizarry’s case, Chutkan told him that on Jan. 6, 2021, he was part of a “mob (that) almost caused the halt of the transfer of power in this country in what’s tantamount to an attempt to overthrow this government.”
Irizarry, the judge continued, “may not have carried a weapon, he may not have stolen anything, he may not have assaulted a police officer, but he’s alleged to have been part of that mob.”
At the time of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Irizarry was in his freshman year at The Citadel and about to start his second semester. Since then, he has been an honors student.
In August, over Chutkan’s objections, a federal appeals court panel gave Irizarry permission to go to Estonia for a Citadel-sponsored three-week study abroad program.
