“A Tale of an American Political Prisoner”

Part 10.8: The Federal Courthouse; Washington, DC

–The “OathKeeper 1″ Trial: The Government’s Case In Chief Part 5”

by: Jessica Watkins (X: @J6ssicaWatkins)

A True Story; 100% verifiable with Courtroom Transcripts, Evidentiary Exhibits, Court Documents and Testimony.

The Government was beginning to wrap up their Case In Chief, but for good measure they played the Heavy Metal video one more time. At some point, Special Agent Eller was put on the stand to testify against me. He had with him a sealed “EVIDENCE” box. In it was my Plate Carrier, my Helmet and (for whatever reason) my Paintball gun that I had converted into a Less Lethal launcher. When asked to explain the Plate Carrier, he held it up and said “It is heavy, it weighs about 15-20lbs. It has pouches designed to carry rifle magazines. It has what appears to be bulletproof plates.” The only problem with that, was that there WERE NO RIFLE MAGAZINES. Instead, the pouches held my cell phone, binoculars, cigarettes, pepperspray, bandages, gauze, tourniquets, splints, and medical gloves. Yeah. That’s right. My duty on January 6th was to serve as the Medic for the Private Security Detail! The Government wanted to make it seem as if i had worn this Plate Carrier for hostile reasons; hence the talk about “rifle magazines” and “bulletproof plates”. But as we showed, there were no “rifle magazines”. When we left the Capitol, we were stopped by Metro Police Officers, frisked, and my plate carrier inventoried on the street. They KNEW I had nothing illicit – merely the standard equipment for a Medic. Furthermore, I had worn that exact same Plate Carrier to all 15 Protests/Rallies/Riots that I had been to, and I had served as a Medic for ALL of them! Trust me, if you had a Black Lives Matter rioter assault YOU with a Fire Extinguisher, then had a different BLM person threaten to MURDER YOU a mere 4 blocks away from where 2 Police Officers were shot the night before… you’d want a Bulletproof vest too. Trust me. My duty as a volunteer Medic placed me in harms way often. There was nothing unusual about my gear, and the equipment stored within was completely legal and standard for my job description.

Then Special Agent Eller moved on to discuss my helmet. “It’s heavy, weighs about 5 lbs. It appears to be a Kevlar helmet designed to stop a bullet. It is covered in a camouflaged cover and has these ‘Red Plus Sign’ patches and a patch on the back that says Em Ee Dee, which I believe is an acronym.” Yeah, no. I s*** you not, he called my MED patch and my Red Cross patches ‘Red Plus Signs’. What am I, a math enthusiast? I want to show my undying love for addition? Get the f*** out of here. I couldn’t believe he was attempting to hide the fact that I was a MEDIC! That’s how dishonest these people were. They couldn’t even acknowledge the fact I was a Medic. If they did, the Jury might question my intent. If they questioned my intent, they might not believe what the Government was selling. They were trying to say I came to overthrow Democracy… not to help the injured. I was furious. Agent Eller was the first FBI Agent I had ever met. He was the one who picked me up from the Urbana Police Department when I turned myself in. He was present at my Arraignment. He was at EVERY debriefing, where I explained IN DETAIL about my Medic duties… about my rescues of Black Lives Matter protesters during the riots, of the Trump supporters at the Capitol. He was under NO ILLUSIONS that I was a Medic, and yet here he was on the witness stand… playing this game. It made me sick. Even worse, the DoJ/FBI took my Medic Bag when they raided my house. Yet here they were… showing my Plate Carrier… showing my Helmet… but my Medic Bag was nowhere to be seen. It was FULL, packed with hundreds of dollars worth of Medical Equipment. But the FBI had different ideas. They wanted to put a new Evidentiary Exhibit on display.

Special Agent Eller reached into the box and pulled out my Paintball Gun, Hopper, and the CO2 tank. He said “Here is a modified Paintball gun, converted into a Less Lethal Launcher. In the box is this container of rubber balls that say ’50 Caliber Rubber Balls with Steel Core’. They’re heavy and are designed for this launcher.” Yeah, the FBI didn’t show the MEDIC BAG that I ACTUALLY brought to Washington, DC for the Security Detail. They didn’t show the Medical Equipment in my Plate Carrier. But here was Agent Eller… showing a Paintball Gun that had never… at any point… left Ohio. I never had a PAINTBALL GUN at January 6th. They didn’t even allege that I had. But here the FBI goon was, showing off my Paintball Gun to my Jury, as if it meant something. The only time I ever had that Paintball Gun was for the BLM protest in Pickerington, OH and again for the Stop the Steal Rally at the Ohio State Capitol. Both times, it was perfectly legal to possess. When we were at the Ohio State Capitol, the State Trooper Sergeant Frost asked about the Paintball Gun, and I told him “…we don’t want to kill anybody. It’s to protect me while I render aid to an injured patient…” Sergeant Frost had no problem with that. I think the cops generally prefer when people try to PREVENT killing people. But the FBI wanted me to seem like a crazy person. And that’s why my Paintball Gun was used against me in trial, when my Medic Bag was nowhere to be seen.

Soon the Government was concluding their bulls*** presentation. They showed the Heavy Metal video one last time for good measure. They showed what happened after J6 a bit … all the bragging I did about “being at the Capitol”. They showed where I texted Montana and said “we stood up to the cops like Spartans…” they showed everything up until the moment I turned myself in. But, naturally they left that part out. When Jeffery Nestler stood up and said “The Government rests its case…” I had this feeling in my gut like… what the f*** was that? Seriously. Their story was so crazy, so inconsistent, so incomprehensible that I was glad that it was all over. Finally. Now it was OUR turn, the Defense would finally have our chance to lay out the truth. To prove the FBI had lied all this time. To show that we were innocent. And we had a few surprises of our own!