WASHINGTON — The hearing to determine how much a New Jersey man owes the family of a late U.S. Capitol Police officer will have to wait until August due to a conflict with former President Donald Trump’s defamation and sexual assault trial.
Julian Khater, of Somerset, was sentenced to more than six-and-a-half years in prison in January for pepper spraying U.S. Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Carolyn Edwards during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Sicknick collapsed hours later and died the following day after suffering multiple strokes. A medical examiner determined Sicknick died of natural causes and neither Khater nor his co-defendant, George Tanios, of West Virginia, were charged in connection with his death.
As part of his sentence, Khater was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol – the standard amount in Jan. 6 felony cases – and a $10,000 fine. But U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan delayed the question of how much Khater owed Edwards and Sicknick’s family in restitution for their injuries until an April 27 hearing.
Last month, Khater’s attorneys Chad Seigel and Joseph Tacopina asked Hogan to continue that hearing until a later date because they had an unavoidable conflict: they were both set to represent Trump in the New York civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. Carroll has alleged Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and then defamed her in public comments while serving as president more than two decades later. A jury trial in that case began last week.
Hogan agreed to vacate the hearing, and on Monday, reset it for Aug. 10 in D.C. District Court.
Separate from the restitution hearing in his criminal case, Khater remains the subject of a civil suit, along with Tanios and Trump, brought by Sicknick’s long-time partner Sandra Garza. Garza’s suit alleges Trump’s “incendiary rhetoric” inflamed rioters, including Khater and Tanios, and directly contributed to Sicknick’s death. The suit seeks no less than $10 million in damages from each defendant. The federal judge overseeing that case has not yet ruled on a motion from Trump’s attorney to dismiss the case.
Other Capitol riot defendants have been ordered to pay thousands of dollars in restitution to cover medical bills and sick leave for officers. Last month, retired firefighter Robert Sanford was ordered to pay $3,798 in restitution to an officer he struck in the head with a fire extinguisher. Prosecutors filed a motion in October asking for Lucas Denney, of Texas, to pay $5,600 in restitution to an officer he pepper sprayed. Two men who pleaded guilty to assaulting former DC Police Officer Mike Fanone avoided any additional restitution payments, however, when the government filed a motion withdrawing its request in December because their plea agreements didn’t include a reference to additional restitution.
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