WASHINGTON — A DC Police lieutenant says he intends to call the former national chairman of the Proud Boys as a defense witness at his trial next month on charges of obstructing an investigation and lying to the FBI about their contacts.
Lt. Shane Lamond was indicted last year on four counts alleging he tipped off Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about the department’s investigation into the group’s involvement in the burning of the Asbury United Methodist Church’s Black Lives Matter banner in December 2020. Tarrio was eventually charged in that case and was sentenced to five months in jail after pleading guilty to burning the banner and unlawfully possessing two high-capacity magazines.
Prior to his arrest, however, prosecutors say Lamond was passing along confidential police information about the investigation to Tarrio, including that a warrant for his arrest was being prepared. Lamond is also accused of failing to provide his superiors with information he received from Tarrio, including that Tarrio had admitted his involvement in the flag burning to him. Lamond also allegedly told Tarrio he’d persuaded the department not to pursue hate crimes charges in connection to the incident.
Lamond, who was the head of the DC Police Department’s intelligence branch in late 2020 and early 2021, has always maintained he was using Tarrio as a source and that all pertinent information he received from the Proud Boys leader was passed along.
A jury trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 13 on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, all felonies. On Wednesday, his attorney, Mark Schamel, said Tarrio could be a key witness in Lamond’s defense.
“In talking to him, his testimony is compelling and very important,” Schamel said.
Tarrio was convicted last year of seditious conspiracy for plotting with other Proud Boys to incite violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s currently serving a 22-year sentence – the longest handed down to date in any Capitol riot case – at FCI Manchester in Kentucky. Schamel said he had struggled for a year to meet with Tarrio and was finally able to do so Friday.
Contacts between Tarrio and Lamond featured prominently in Tarrio’s defense case last year. Tarrio’s attorneys had hoped to call Lamond as a key witness, but were unable to do so after he indicated he would assert his Fifth Amendment rights on the stand.
Attorneys for Tarrio, who is appealing his conviction and sentence, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, prosecutors said if Tarrio took the stand in Lamond’s trial he could potentially be opening himself up to additional obstruction and conspiracy charges related to the investigation into the flag burning. Lamond’s attorney said it seemed like the Justice Department was trying to keep Tarrio off the stand.
“There’s no mention of charging Mr. Tarrio,” Schamel said of the three-year-old investigation. “It’s never come up. And all of a sudden he’s going to be a defense witness and there are potential charges.”
U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson, who is presiding over Lamond’s case, expressed skepticism about what potential liability Tarrio could face on the stand. She made it clear nothing about the events of Jan. 6 would be coming into the trial.
In addition to the former Proud Boys leaders, Schamel said for the first time Wednesday he had identified two members of the media he might trial to call as witnesses. Schamel said he believed if they took the stand they would testify they had informed Tarrio about the existence of the warrant for his arrest prior to his arrival in D.C. on Jan. 4, 2021. Schamel said he had not yet issued trial subpoenas to them and it was unclear whether the unnamed members of the media would agree to testify willingly.
Federal prosecutors have said they expect their case against Lamond to take as long as two weeks. Schamel has identified dozens of potential witnesses who might be called as part of the defense case, although he was expected to submit a pared-down list to the court later this week.