“Since that time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has heard conflicting information about Mr. Pierce’s health and whereabouts,” the filing.
On Aug. 24, Marshall appeared in court Pierce’s place for another riot defendant, “and represented to the court that Mr. Pierce’s absence was due to a conflict,” the filing said.
“A few hours later, Mr. Marshall attended a reverse-proffer session with a different defendant represented by Mr. Pierce, telling the Assistant U.S. Attorney that he had just gotten word that Mr. Pierce had been in an accident and was on his way to the hospital,” the filing said.
“Mr. Marshall then proceeded with the reverse-proffer session in Mr. Pierce’s absence.”
The next morning, Marshall appeared in Pierce’s place for yet another riot defendant, “and represented to the court that Mr. Pierce was hospitalized with COVID-19, on a ventilator, and non-responsive,” the filing said.
“After that information was reported publicly, a different individual reached out to an NPR correspondent and wrote that Mr. Pierce did not, in fact, have COVID, but instead ‘was hospitalized on Monday due to symptoms that he believed might be related to Covid-19’; ‘appears to have been suffering from dehydration and exhaustion’; and ‘remains under the care of his doctors,’ ” the filing said.
Last Thursday, during a hearing for another defendant, Marshall told a judge that he had not had direct contact with Pierce, “but that one of Mr. Pierce’s friends had told him that Mr. Pierce was sick with COVID-19 and another had said he was not,” prosecutors wrote.
The filing noted that during the hearing, “Marshall requested, and was granted, a sealed bench conference at which to discuss Mr. Pierce’s condition.”
Prosecutors noted that Pierce routinely posted “multiple messages to Twitter on a daily basis” but has not done so since Aug. 20.
“And there are reports that “multiple phone numbers for Pierce’s law firm, Pierce Bainbridge P.C., have been disconnected,” the filing said.
Prosecutors said that Marshall seems to have taken actions for Capitol riot defendants “that he is not permitted to do,” as he is not being currently licensed to practice law, “and thus cannot appear in this Court, represent Mr. Pierce’s clients, or provide them with legal advice or services.”
The filing noted that Marshall is criminally charged in Pennsylvania state court with multiple counts of intercepting communications and unlawful use of an audio device in court, and in another case there where he is accused of a scheme to defraud the widow of a man while serving as a courthouse law clerk.
“From the government’s perspective, given Mr. Pierce’s reported illness and the fact that Mr. Marshall is not a licensed attorney, this case is effectively at a standstill,” the filing said.
Prosecutors wrote that while ‘”Marshall has been the government’s main or sole point of contact for many of the defendants represented by Mr. Pierce, the government does not believe it appropriate to continue to communicate with him in Mr. Pierce’s absence, during which he would necessarily be acting without supervision by a licensed attorney.”
Correction: An earlier version gave the wrong last name for Judge Beryl Howell.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/31/capitol-riot-lawyer-john-pierce-missing-after-using-covid-as-excuse.html