Prosecutors want more time on possible plea deal for Cedar Rapids man charged in U.S. Capitol raid

CEDAR RAPIDS — Federal prosecutors asked a judge to allow them more time to work on possible plea negotiations for a Cedar Rapids man charged in January’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

A phone status hearing for Leo Christopher Kelly, 35, was held Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The judge provided a brief memo, saying he would grant the prosecution’s motion to delay speedy trial requirements from July 6 through Aug. 9 in the “interest of justice.”

Prosecutors will have to take Kelly to trial or have a plea agreement by that time.

A prosecutor, in a previous motion, said she was working with Kelly’s attorney to resolve the case.

U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey set another phone/video status hearing for Aug. 9. Kelly remains free on a recognizance bond pending trial.

More than 520 defendants have been charged to date in the Jan. 6 attack, and many of the cases may be resolved in plea agreements, according to recent media reports.

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.

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.

Kelly, who works at his family-owned business as a broker of internet services, said 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.

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