Former MO GOP chair subpoenaed in Capitol riot probe is new attorney for Olathe Proud Boy
A former Missouri GOP chairman subpoenaed last week by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot is now a lead attorney for an Olathe Proud Boy charged in the insurrection.
Ed Martin, who was head of the Missouri Republican Party between 2013 and 2015, has signed on to represent William Chrestman, court records show. Chrestman was indicted along with three other Kansas City-area Proud Boys and two Arizona siblings who prosecutors say conspired to breach the Capitol on Jan. 6. The government alleges that Chrestman was a key player in the invasion.
Martin was among six people subpoenaed last week who the House of Representatives panel says were involved in organizing and planning rallies to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. The committee says Martin was a leader of the “Stop the Steal” movement.
The committee sent a letter to Martin demanding documents and a deposition regarding his role in the planning leading up to the protest on Jan. 6, after which a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol and disrupted the election certification process.
Martin is ordered to produce the documents by Dec. 23 and appear for a deposition on Jan. 5.
Court records show that Martin filed his representation of Chrestman in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 17, the same day Judge Timothy Kelly granted Chrestman’s motion to replace his previous attorney, Peter Cooper.
According to the records, Chrestman wanted to replace Cooper with Michigan attorney Michael Cronkright. But because Cronkright doesn’t practice law in Washington, D.C., Martin, a member of the DC bar, stepped in as Cronkright’s sponsoring attorney. Both are now listed as Chrestman’s lead attorneys.
Martin and Cronkright also signed on in November to represent Capitol riot defendant Joseph Padilla, of Tennessee, who was indicted on 12 counts that include obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder; assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He is accused of getting in an altercation with officers at a barricade and throwing a flagpole at officers in the archway of the building. Like Chrestman, he is being held without bond pending trial.
Cronkright, a member of the bar in Florida and Michigan, specializes in criminal appeals, expungement, fraud and theft cases, as well as those involving sex, drugs, guns and the internet, according to his bio. He also represents parents, daycare workers, foster parents and others who he says are facing false abuse allegations.
“I have a passion for defending the falsely accused and those treated unfairly by police, prosecutors and CPS investigators,” his bio says.
Neither Cronkright nor Martin responded to requests for comment.
Martin is president of the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, a group named for the conservative writer who was known for her opposition to feminism and abortion and her effort to prevent passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
The group’s website calls Martin the co-founder of the “Stop the Steal” movement, which claimed that the election had been stolen from former President Donald Trump. Martin was set to attend the rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, according to a press release on the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles website.
The letter from the committee says it has documents that show Martin helped organize the movement’s “Wild Protest” event on Jan. 6 and paid for vendors at the gathering.
Chrestman was indicted Feb. 26 along with Christopher Kuehne of Olathe, Louis Enrique Colon of Blue Springs, Ryan Keith Ashlock of Gardner and siblings Cory and Felicia Konold of Arizona on conspiracy charges and other offenses related to the riot.
Chrestman, an unemployed union sheet metal worker, also was charged with threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer and carrying a wooden ax handle while in the Capitol building and on the grounds. The others were released on personal recognizance bonds, but Chrestman has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 11.
The Proud Boys have been at the forefront of the federal investigation into the insurrection. Authorities have arrested about three dozen members or associates of the far-right group from around the country, including several in leadership positions, on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to conspiracy to assaulting a federal officer.
In July, Kelly denied Chrestman’s request to be released pending trial, upholding a previous judge’s ruling that he was a danger to the community.
Kelly went through a laundry list of Chrestman’s alleged actions on the day of the riot that the judge said were captured by dozens of photos and videos. The actions, Kelly said, included Chrestman wielding an ax handle, encouraging the crowd to storm the Capitol and confronting law enforcement, telling an officer that “You shoot and I’ll take your f------ ass out!”
“Mr. Chrestman was much more — much, much more — than someone who merely cheered on the violence or who entered the Capitol after others cleared the way,” Kelly said.
At an Oct. 1 hearing, Kelly again denied a motion by Chrestman to be released. Cooper told the judge that he would file a motion for the court to revisit Chrestman’s detention status and bond conditions. Kelly told him he was free to do so at any time. But that hasn’t happened.
Chrestman’s next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 5.
The Star’s Daniel Desrochers contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 12:19 PM.
