Kansas man charged in Capitol riot case wants to fire attorney, represent himself
A Topeka man accused of attempting to force open a door in a hallway inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite during the Capitol riot wants to fire his attorney and represent himself.
William Pope, a former Topeka City Council candidate indicted along with his brother in February 2021 on eight counts in connection with the insurrection, told a federal judge that his original court-appointed attorney had been slow in providing him the partial batches of discovery that had been received from the government. And, he said, his current attorney did not have the technological skills to share the digital materials with him.
“I have asked my appointed council (sic), Mr. Greg English to withdraw as council in my case,” Pope wrote in a June 28 letter to U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras. “I will exercise my constitutional right to represent myself.”
Pope also complained that prosecutors still had not provided him with the full discovery documents for his case and that in their charging documents had incorrectly stated that he had reported himself to the FBI after stories had been published in the media saying he was involved in the riot.
“As you know, the January 6 cases are highly dependent on digital files, especially digital video,” Pope wrote. “Without access to this discovery, it is impossible for me to mount a defense.”
A status hearing on Pope’s case was held via video conference Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Rudolph Contreras set a date next month for a hearing on Pope’s request.
“Mr. William Pope is insistent on wanting to proceed pro se,” Contreras said after a short meeting in private with Pope and English.
The government filed a response on Sunday disputing Pope’s claims about not receiving “full discovery,” saying most of it had been provided last year to Pope’s previous attorney. And it described as “questionable” Pope’s assertion that his lack of access to video footage made it impossible for him to mount a defense.
On Dec. 25, 2021, the government said, Pope tweeted that he was “100% convinced that the FBI is responsible” for “January 6” based on his review of “hundreds of hours of January 6 footage.”
Pope also has posted compilations of video footage from the Capitol riot on Rumble, the government said, adding overlaying text and setting the videos to music. In his posts, it said, Pope analyzes the video footage of various individuals and ‘’insinuates or directly asserts that they are government actors who provoked the riot.”
The government argued that because of the “sensitive nature” of many materials in the defense discovery databases, Pope should be prohibited from having direct access to them if he represents himself in the case.
“Such prohibition will appropriately ensure that Sensitive and Highly Sensitive materials are safeguarded against improper use or dissemination,” the government said. “Such safeguarding is especially warranted here, where…Defendant has previously tweeted that he has ‘plenty of material’ for Tucker Carlson to create a ‘miniseries.’”
Pope was arrested in February 2021 after he contacted the FBI’s online tip system to turn himself in, court documents show.
“I was in the Capitol on January 6,” William Pope wrote in a message to the FBI, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed in the case. “I did not damage any property or engage in any violence. I am loyal to the United States and was only there to exercise my freedom of speech. I left the building voluntarily.”
Pope included an image of himself standing on the Capitol grounds, wearing a long-sleeved red sweatshirt; a red, white and blue USA ball cap; and holding flags in both of his gloved hands.
Pope’s brother, Michael Pope, of Sandpoint, Idaho, was charged with the same crimes — among them, obstruction or impeding an official proceeding and civil disorder.
According to the affidavit, the FBI interviewed William Pope on Jan. 21, 2021, and he admitted to entering the Capitol building with his brother during the riot, saying their purpose “was to express their concern about the direction of the nation.”
On Jan. 22, the FBI interviewed a U.S. Capitol Police officer who said he was inside the Senate doors on the east side of the Capitol when he came in contact with William Pope, the affidavit said. The officer said William Pope resisted his attempt to stop him from entering the building and blocked authorities from closing the door to prevent other rioters from getting in.
William Pope also was identified on surveillance videos inside the Capitol, including footage that showed him and his brother in the hallway outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices, the affidavit said.
“In the video, William Pope appears to strike one of the office doors several times with the bottom of his flag pole and then attempts to force the door open by lunging into the door with his shoulder,” it said.
William Pope ran for Topeka City Council in 2019 and had been a student with Kansas State University’s Leadership Communication Doctoral Program. He also was a graduate teaching assistant at K-State.
University spokeswoman Michelle Geering told The Star in January that Pope was enrolled at K-State for the Spring 2022 semester but was no longer a university employee.
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 3:44 PM.
