Cedar Rapids, IA, USA  
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe Today
The Gazette The Gazette
The Gazette The Gazette
  • COVID-19
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food & Drink
  • Business
Digital Edition Digital Edition
Log in Log In My Account My Account
Subscribe
CLOSE
The Gazette
Subscribe
My Account
  • News
    • All News
    • Election 2020
    • Coronavirus
    • Business News
    • Community
    • Crime and Courts
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Nation and World
    • Time Machine
    • Search Archive

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Lee Hermiston
    • Erin Jordan
    • James Q. Lynch
    • Trish Mehaffey
    • Vanessa Miller
    • Kat Russell
    • Grace King
    • John Steppe
    • Gage Miskimen
    • Marissa Payne
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Hawkeye Football
    • Hawkeye Basketball
    • Prep Sports
    • Prep Volleyball
    • Prep Football
    • Prep Basketball
    • Prep Wrestling
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • UNI Panthers
    • Small College Sports
    • Minor League Sports
    • Outdoors

    Sports Desk

    • Mike Hlas
    • Jeff Johnson
    • Jeff Linder
    • J.R. Ogden
    • K.J. Pilcher
    • Leah Vann
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Editorial Mission
    • Guest Columnists
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Political Cartoons
    • Staff Columnists
    • Staff Editorials
    • Submit a Letter or Column

    Our Columnists

    • Todd Dorman
    • Adam Sullivan
  • Food and Drink
    • All Food and Drink
    • Chew on This
    • Recipes
    • Restaurants
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Business Notes
    • Companies
    • Personal Finance
    • Economy
    • Employment
    • Energy
    • Manufacturing
    • Openings & Closures
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Small Business
    • Transportation

    Our Journalists

    • Rod Boshart
    • Erin Jordan
    • John Steppe
  • Obituaries
    • All Obituaries
    • In Memory Of
    • Submit an Obituary
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • Daily News Podcast
    • Fact Checker
    • Hlastradamus Odds
    • Iowa Prep Sports
    • On Iowa
    • On Iowa Politics
    • On UNI
    • Pinning Combination
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Art
    • Books
    • Museums & Galleries
    • Music
    • Theater
    • Things To Do
  • Living
    • All Living
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Milestones
    • People & Places
    • Pets & Animals
    • Recreation
    • Religion & Belief
    • Travel

    Our Writers

    • Diana Nollen
  • Kids Gazette
    • See All
    • Kids Cooking Series
    • Kids Galleries
    • Printables
    • Activities
    • Articles
    • Submissions
    • Resources
  • Photos
    • All Photos and Videos
    • The Iowa Photo
    • Photo Store

    Our Photojournalists

    • Andy Abeyta
    • Liz Martin
    • Rebecca Miller
    • Jim Slosiarek
    • Gazette Visuals
  • Milestones
    • All Milestones
    • Anniversaries
    • Days To Remember
    • Engagements
    • Holidays
    • In Remembrance
    • New Arrivals
    • Thank Yous
    • Submit a Milestone
  • Data
    • Arrests
    • Building Permits
    • Interactive Maps & Charts
    • Salaries
  • Gazette Sites
    • Classifieds
    • Corridor Careers
    • Garage Sales
    • Gazette Gives Back
    • Gazette Rewards
    • Gazette Store
    • Green Gazette
    • HER
    • Iowa Wedding Experience
    • Holiday Light Finder
    • Hoopla
    • Iowa Ideas
    • Photo Store
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
    • About The Gazette
    • Archives
    • Article Removal
    • Business Directory
    • CR Arrest Database
    • Mobile Apps
    • Customer Care
    • Order Back Issues
    • Privacy Policies
    • Puzzle Answers
    • Sponsorship Requests
    • Submit a Letter
    • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast
Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
Log out

FOLLOW US

The Gazette
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Food and Drink
  • Business
  • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
  • Entertainment
  • Living
  • Kids Gazette
  • Photos
  • Milestones
  • Data
  • Gazette Sites
  • Special Events
  • Special Sections
  • Other
  • All News
  • Election 2020
  • Coronavirus
  • Business News
  • Community
  • Crime and Courts
  • Education
  • Government
  • Health
  • Nation and World
  • Time Machine
  • Search Archive

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Lee Hermiston
  • Erin Jordan
  • James Q. Lynch
  • Trish Mehaffey
  • Vanessa Miller
  • Kat Russell
  • Grace King
  • John Steppe
  • Gage Miskimen
  • Marissa Payne
  • All Sports
  • Iowa Hawkeyes
  • Hawkeye Football
  • Hawkeye Basketball
  • Prep Sports
  • Prep Volleyball
  • Prep Football
  • Prep Basketball
  • Prep Wrestling
  • Iowa State Cyclones
  • UNI Panthers
  • Small College Sports
  • Minor League Sports
  • Outdoors

Sports Desk

  • Mike Hlas
  • Jeff Johnson
  • Jeff Linder
  • J.R. Ogden
  • K.J. Pilcher
  • Leah Vann
  • All Opinion
  • Editorial Mission
  • Guest Columnists
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Political Cartoons
  • Staff Columnists
  • Staff Editorials
  • Submit a Letter or Column

Our Columnists

  • Todd Dorman
  • Adam Sullivan
  • All Food and Drink
  • Chew on This
  • Recipes
  • Restaurants
  • All Business
  • Agriculture
  • Business Notes
  • Companies
  • Personal Finance
  • Economy
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Manufacturing
  • Openings & Closures
  • Real Estate
  • Retail
  • Small Business
  • Transportation

Our Journalists

  • Rod Boshart
  • Erin Jordan
  • John Steppe
  • All Obituaries
  • In Memory Of
  • Submit an Obituary
  • All Podcasts
  • Daily News Podcast
  • Fact Checker
  • Hlastradamus Odds
  • Iowa Prep Sports
  • On Iowa
  • On Iowa Politics
  • On UNI
  • Pinning Combination
  • All Entertainment
  • Art
  • Books
  • Museums & Galleries
  • Music
  • Theater
  • Things To Do
  • All Living
  • Health & Wellness
  • Home & Garden
  • Milestones
  • People & Places
  • Pets & Animals
  • Recreation
  • Religion & Belief
  • Travel

Our Writers

  • Diana Nollen
  • See All
  • Kids Cooking Series
  • Kids Galleries
  • Printables
  • Activities
  • Articles
  • Submissions
  • Resources
  • All Photos and Videos
  • The Iowa Photo
  • Photo Store

Our Photojournalists

  • Andy Abeyta
  • Liz Martin
  • Rebecca Miller
  • Jim Slosiarek
  • Gazette Visuals
  • All Milestones
  • Anniversaries
  • Days To Remember
  • Engagements
  • Holidays
  • In Remembrance
  • New Arrivals
  • Thank Yous
  • Submit a Milestone
  • Arrests
  • Building Permits
  • Interactive Maps & Charts
  • Salaries
  • Classifieds
  • Corridor Careers
  • Garage Sales
  • Gazette Gives Back
  • Gazette Rewards
  • Gazette Store
  • Green Gazette
  • HER
  • Iowa Wedding Experience
  • Holiday Light Finder
  • Hoopla
  • Iowa Ideas
  • Photo Store
  • About The Gazette
  • Archives
  • Article Removal
  • Business Directory
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Mobile Apps
  • Customer Care
  • Order Back Issues
  • Privacy Policies
  • Puzzle Answers
  • Sponsorship Requests
  • Submit a Letter
  • Weather
Daily News PodcastDaily News Podcast Daily NewslettersDaily Newsletters
LOG OUT

FOLLOW US

More Stories

Marion school board votes 5-2 to no longer consider ’Mavericks’

University of Iowa presidential finalist Osofsky tackles questions of free…

24-hour COVID-19 vaccine clinic to take place this weekend

'A way to start over again’: Collaboration aims to replant…

Iowa’s public works needs ignored too long, White House reports

House GOP calls for freezing funding for ‘bloated’ regents universities

More than 750,000 Iowans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Biden wants infrastructure deal, but GOP doubts persist

Home / News / Crime and Courts

Plea deal may be coming for Leo Kelly, Cedar Rapids man who entered U.S. Capitol in January’s violent raid

Trish MehaffeyBy: Trish Mehaffey Mar. 16, 2021 12:10 pm Updated: Mar. 16, 2021 7:01 pm
Plea deal may be coming for Leo Kelly, Cedar Rapids man who entered U.S. Capitol in January’s violent raid

CEDAR RAPIDS - Court documents indicate a plea agreement may be reached in the federal case against a Cedar Rapids man charged in January's violent raid on the U.S. Capitol.

A preliminary hearing for Leo Christopher Kelly, 35, has been bumped by a judge to April 8 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., because a prosecutor, in a motion filed last week, said she was working with Kelly's attorney 'in an effort to resolve this matter.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenya Davis, in the motion, said the prosecution also is gathering discovery to provide to the defense. Both sides requested more time and asked that a preliminary hearing be reset to next month.

Some of the more than 300 defendants charged in the Jan. 6 attack also may be resolved in plea agreements, according to recent media reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Fretto said last Friday during a court hearing for two Texas defendants that based on information her supervisors received, the U.S. Justice Department was moving forward with plea agreements, according to CNN.

Kelly is charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry with intent to disrupt the orderly conduct of official business and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Kelly, who works at his family-owned business as a broker of internet services, admitted during interviews with The Gazette and LifeSiteNews in January that he was 'one of the first men to breach the Capitol building and go inside with dozens of others,” which helped lead an FBI investigator to him.

He told The Gazette during the interview that he wasn't a violent person and wasn't part of any destruction or damage of property and items inside the Capitol and personal offices.

Kelly also was identified through video taken of the chaotic assault by the New Yorker magazine.

In the video interview with LifeSiteNews, a conservative news site, Kelly said he stayed inside the Capitol between 30 minutes and an hour, according to an affidavit of the criminal complaint.

Kelly was released after his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids and remains on GPS monitoring - a condition of his release - pending his trial in Washington, D.C. He also was ordered by two federal judges to surrender his passport and stay out of the D.C. area, except for court proceedings and meetings with his attorney.

If convicted, Kelly faces up to one year in federal prison on the first count, or 10 years if it's found he had a weapon. He faces up to six months in prison on the second count.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com

Leo Kelly
Daily Report, Election 2020
Trish Mehaffey

Trish Mehaffey

Reporter, The Gazette

Reporter covering state and federal courts, and whatever legal issues come my way. I also provide live coverage of criminal trials o and welcome comments and questions from readers.

Iowa City man faces life in prison for sexually abusing…

Court replaces two judges on business court

Cedar Rapids man will plead to lesser charges in 2019…

Cedar Rapids man convicted in Chris Bagley’s death faces new…

Fayette County man sentenced to life in death of infant

All articles by Trish

Give us feedback

We work hard to provide fair, accurate coverage because we value your trust. If you find an error or omission in our reporting, please tell us here.

Submit a story idea

Do you have a story idea that we should look into? Please tell us here.

Related Stories

Iowa adds 666 virus cases on Thursday

Iowa adds 666 virus cases on Thursday

Gage Miskimen Health Care and Medicine Apr. 8, 2021 4:39 pm

No one hurt in Cedar Rapids house fire

No one hurt in Cedar Rapids house fire

Gazette staff Crime and Courts Apr. 6, 2021 12:15 pm

Iowa state park camping fees increase for the first time…

Iowa state park camping fees increase for the first time…

Erin Jordan Government & Politics Apr. 5, 2021 9:51 pm

Crime & Courts

Iowa City man faces life in prison for sexually abusing…

Iowa City man faces life in prison for sexually abusing…

Trish Mehaffey

Crime and Courts Apr. 12, 2021 5:06 pm

Inmate accused in prison worker killings pleads not guilty

Inmate accused in prison worker killings pleads not guilty

AP

Crime and Courts Apr. 12, 2021 4:33 pm

Police looking for victim in Kum & Go shooting in…

Police looking for victim in Kum & Go shooting in…

Kat Russell

Crime and Courts Apr. 12, 2021 4:45 pm

Cedar Rapids police to host drug take back day April…

Cedar Rapids police to host drug take back day April…

Kat Russell

Crime and Courts Apr. 12, 2021 4:14 pm

News

More than 750,000 Iowans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

More than 750,000 Iowans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Kat Russell

Health Care and Medicine Apr. 12, 2021 7:16 pm

Biden wants infrastructure deal, but GOP doubts persist

Biden wants infrastructure deal, but GOP doubts persist

AP

News Apr. 12, 2021 6:54 pm

Tennessee school shooting kills 1, wounds police officer

Tennessee school shooting kills 1, wounds police officer

AP

News Apr. 12, 2021 6:53 pm

Police: Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun

Police: Minnesota officer meant to draw Taser, not handgun

AP

News Apr. 12, 2021 6:51 pm

Government & Politics

Two members added to Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Two members added to Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Lee Hermiston

Local Government Apr. 12, 2021 3:46 pm

Little progress, but caregivers not giving up on decadelong legislative…

Little progress, but caregivers not giving up on decadelong legislative…

James Q. Lynch

News Apr. 12, 2021 11:58 am

Week in Iowa: Recap of news from around the state…

Week in Iowa: Recap of news from around the state…

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

News Apr. 8, 2021 11:25 pm

After border visit, Hinson calls for reinstating Trump policies

After border visit, Hinson calls for reinstating Trump policies

By Amie Rivers

Federal Government Apr. 9, 2021 11:31 pm

Sports

Kelly Proesch finds her own niche, writes her own success…

Kelly Proesch finds her own niche, writes her own success…

Jeff Linder

Sports Apr. 12, 2021 9:21 pm

Kirkwood ready for national volleyball tournament

Kirkwood ready for national volleyball tournament

K.J. Pilcher

Sports Apr. 12, 2021 7:42 pm

Enyi Uwazurike taking on bigger leadership role for Iowa State

Enyi Uwazurike taking on bigger leadership role for Iowa State

Ben Visser

Sports Apr. 12, 2021 6:49 pm

Liam Robbins transferring from Minnesota to Vanderbilt, not Iowa

Liam Robbins transferring from Minnesota to Vanderbilt, not Iowa

Mike Hlas

Hawkeye Basketball Apr. 12, 2021 3:56 pm

FOLLOW US

The Gazette is Iowa’s independent, employee-owned source for local, state, and national news coverage.

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility

Contact Us

  • 116 3rd St SE
    Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
  • customercare@thegazette.com
  • (319) 398-8333
  • Live Chat

Links

  • Puzzle Answers
  • CR Arrest Database
  • Article Removal Request
  • Archives
  • Green Gazette
  • Corridor Careers Jobs
  • Work at The Gazette
  • Customer Care

© 2021 The Gazette

All Rights Reserved.

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy
  • Web Accessibility
Folience A Folience Company