Contributed photo / Joseph Lino "Jose" Padilla, of Cleveland, Tenn.The Cleveland, Tennessee, man charged on a 12-count indictment in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol will appear in U.S. District Court on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., for a status hearing on his case.
Joseph Lino "Jose" Padilla, 41, is scheduled to appear via teleconference Wednesday in court in the nation's capital. Padilla has remained in federal custody since his arrest Feb. 23, 2021.
The hearing is for District Judge John D. Bates to be updated on the status of discovery in the case after Michael Cronkright, Padilla's attorney, complained during the last hearing in January that prosecutors hadn't satisfactorily provided the government's case documents to Padilla.
Cronkright told Bates the release of evidence "just seems to trickle out, and when it does trickle out, it trickles out in fairly large batches," he said during the Jan. 26 hearing.
Joseph Lino "Jose" Padilla, 41, is scheduled to appear via teleconference Wednesday in court in the nation's capital. Padilla has remained in federal custody since his arrest Feb. 23, 2021.
When his office was contacted Monday by phone, Cronkright declined to comment or answer questions about the case. Edward Martin Jr., also listed as an attorney for Padilla, didn't respond to an emailed request for comment on the case. Likewise, Rebeka Padilla, Padilla's wife, was unwilling to comment when contacted by phone Monday.
Padilla's charges, according to a 2021 federal indictment, include:
- Assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.
- Three counts of civil disorder.
- Two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon.
- Obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting.
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
- Engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
- Disorderly conduct in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
- Committing an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings.
Padilla pleaded not guilty in the case on March 30, 2021, court records show.
The FBI's Feb. 22, 2021, criminal complaint charging Padilla, identified by a tipster who saw him in videos of the incident, states he was seen in footage from a Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia officer's body camera wearing a scuba mask and pushing a police barricade line shouting, "Push! Push! --ing push!"
Another video captured Padilla pushing the barricade, and police officers removed his scuba mask and began pushing him and striking him with a police baton "to get him to stop," the complaint states. Minutes later, another video showed Padilla helping others move a large, metal-framed sign on wheels toward the barricade, where the complaint states it was used as a battering ram against police officers.
A few hours later, "Padilla and numerous other rioters began to mass in front of a law enforcement line inside the archway of the U.S. Capitol lower west terrace doors," the complaint states. "He throws the flagpole at the officers, who are simultaneously being attacked by rioters."
Padilla has continued to seek release, but Bates in detaining him has maintained the Cleveland man "poses a concrete, prospective threat to the safety of the community," court documents state.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton.