John Pierce Represents More Capitol Riot Defendants Than Anyone. Should He?

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John Pierce has taken on more defendants related to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection than any other lawyer. «I believe it’s around 18, he told NPR in a recent interview, adding, «Don’t hold me to it.





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Clockwise from top left: Casey Cusick, Christopher Worrell, Stephanie Baez, James Cusick Jr., William Pepe and Jeremiah Caplinger are all charged in relation to the Capitol riot and have been represented by Pierce.





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Pierce did tell NPR that his substance abuse problems were worsening in 2020.

«I’ve had my issues with substances over the years, he said, «and I needed to go to rehab for some time, but I was really too busy. He said he checked into a 30-day rehab program for substance abuse in March 2020.

A financial declaration from his divorce case indicates that he personally owed more than $1 million in taxes as of 2019.

And Pierce’s firm also began having money problems.

By 2020, Pierce’s law firm dissolved amid allegations of mismanagement. Dozens of attorneys abandoned the firm, and Pierce has since been sued by multiple creditors. Pierce told NPR that, in retrospect, the firm grew too large, too fast. Pierce told NPR that he does not know how much money the firm currently owes, though he said, «they’re not small numbers. He added that he fully intends to pay off all of the debt.

Now, Pierce has pledged to rebuild his career, in part, with a series of high-profile politically charged cases, including those related to the Capitol riot. But his financial problems have sometimes cast a shadow on his work.

In 2020, Pierce joined the defense team for Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with homicide in the killing of two people during the unrest in Kenosha, Wis., and has become a conservative cause célèbre. Prosecutors challenged Pierce’s role. One prosecutor questioned how he was using the large amount of money raised for Rittenhouse’s legal defense.

Given Pierce’s «substantial personal debts, Wisconsin prosecutors wrote in a legal filing, there was «ample opportunity for self-dealing and fraud.





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Pierce speaks as Kyle Rittenhouse (left) listens during an Oct. 30 hearing in Waukegan, Ill. Pierce joined — and was eventually fired from — the defense team for Rittenhouse, who has been charged with homicide in the killing of two people during unrest in Kenosha, Wis.





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Pierce declined to talk to NPR in detail about his Jan. 6 cases. But he did say he is taking a look at a theory that government agents «entrapped defendants despite little, if any, public evidence supporting that view.





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For one, federal regulations of nonprofits prohibit what’s called «private inurement — which essentially means the improper use of a nonprofit’s money for the benefit of an individual. It’s not necessarily wrong for a nonprofit to pay one of its officers’ law firms for legal work. But regulators generally expect groups to go through an objective process to ensure that money is being spent for the benefit of the nonprofit’s mission and not one person’s private gain. Often that process goes through a group’s board of directors.

«There doesn’t appear to be any independent oversight of the way this organization is conducting its activities, said Sean Delany, a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Charities Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

Laurie Styron, executive director of the group CharityWatch, called the close financial arrangement between the NCLU and Pierce «quite bold.

«Most nonprofits don’t do things this way, Styron said. «The optics are just terrible.

Pierce said that, at the moment, «we’re still getting the corporate governance straight.

He later wrote in an email to NPR, «An independent committee of the board of directors will decide on any disbursements to my firm, which will only be for work that falls within the NCLU mission statement.


Defendants in limbo


On Aug. 23, Pierce made plans for a follow-up interview with NPR, and he was still in touch with federal prosecutors regarding his Capitol riot cases. Just two days later, at a scheduled hearing for one of his clients, Pierce did not show up. Instead, Marshall appeared in his place and said he believed Pierce had COVID-19 and was on a ventilator.

Marshall does not have a law license. And that led to some tough questions from federal judges and prosecutors, who contended that Marshall could not represent any defendants in court. The «army of lawyers that Pierce had promised also did not appear. For two weeks, the cases have essentially been put on pause.

Now that Pierce is out of the hospital, he has promised to continue representing all of his Jan. 6 clients. And he insisted that his «army is still on its way. He said several people had already joined his efforts so far, though it is «still very much in an organizational state. He was reluctant to provide further details. «We are not releasing names at this time to protect those individuals because of the obsessive and fake nature of the media coverage surrounding me, he said.

Since Pierce’s unexpected absence, one client has said that she is «completely comfortable and very happy with Pierce.

But others are more uneasy.

Angel Harrelson, the wife of one defendant, wrote in a fundraising email that she had difficulty getting Pierce’s attention on her husband’s case even before his absence.

«We are having so many issues getting our attorney to file certain motions or even basically to do his job! Harrelson wrote in an email first reported by The New York Times.

It seems John Pierce's health is exacerbating tensions w/his client Oath Keeper Kenneth Harrelson.
Yesterday Harrelson's wife sent out this email asking for donations & complaining that even before Pierce fell ill, he was incommunicative & unversed in the details of the case. pic.twitter.com/MELOoSZMjm

— Alan Feuer (@alanfeuer) August 26, 2021

Harrelson declined to comment to NPR. She posted on a fundraising page that she was now scrambling to find the money for a new attorney, who would essentially be starting from scratch. That attorney appeared in court on Wednesday.

Another client, Victoria White, decided to fire Pierce at a hearing last week.

«His phone’s all disconnected — that just doesn’t seem right, White said of Pierce.

But White said she would need time, because it had been extremely difficult to find a lawyer to represent her, especially one «that’s not gonna take advantage of us.

In response, Pierce told NPR, «I will not comment about current or former clients.