Trump pardon spares Chama man who pled to violent attack on Capitol Police

A Chama man who pleaded guilty last year to assaulting two Capitol Police officers in 2021 had charges against him dismissed last week following President Donald Trump’s unconditional pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters.

Rockne Gerard Earles, 64, pleaded guilty in September to two felony assault charges for attacks on the two officers, court records show.

In one attack captured on video, Earles grabbed an officer and wrestled him to the steps outside the Capitol Building, according to records filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The officer, identified as “A.C.” in court records, was later hospitalized with a concussion and was off work for 45 days as a result of injuries he received that day, according to a sentencing memorandum filed by prosecutors.

In the other assault, Earles threw a full 20-ounce bottle of Gatorade at an officer, narrowly missing the officer’s head, according to the memorandum.

Federal prosecutors recommended last week that the judge sentence Earles to 52 months in prison, according to a sentencing memorandum filed in U.S. District Court.

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Wednesday dismissed the criminal case against Earles and ordered his release from the District of Columbia jail where he was held pending sentencing.

Email messages sent to Martin Juarez, Earles’ federal public defender in Albuquerque, were not immediately returned.

Phone messages left with the Capitol Police public information office were not returned last week.

Trump a week ago Monday issued an unconditional pardon for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including those charged with acts of violence against officers.

Earles is one of at least five New Mexicans who faced criminal charges for their roles in the Jan. 6 riot. Earles is also listed as a resident of Fargo, North Dakota.

Couy Griffin, a former Otero County commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump, said last week that he planned to turn down a presidential pardon if offered and intended to contest his conviction in court.

Griffin became a national figure during the Jan. 6 attack when he recorded videos from the Capitol terrace with hundreds of noisy flag-waving protesters behind him. Griffin was convicted in U.S. District Court in 2022 of entering a restricted area outside the U.S. Capitol and was sentenced to 14 days in jail.

Earles was arrested in Chama on April 11, 2023, after a federal grand jury indicted him on eight charges. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 20 to two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. He faced up to eight years in prison and up to $250,000 in restitution.

In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, federal prosecutors recommended the judge sentence him to 52 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.

Earles and other rioters breached a police line on the Capitol’s northwest stairway and attempted to enter a doorway, the sentencing memorandum said.

“As Officer A.C. attempted to block rioters from advancing through a doorway, Earles tackled Officer A.C. from behind and pulled him to the ground — leaving a clear path for other rioters to breach the doorway,” the memorandum said.

Earles also put his hand on A.C.’s back to prevent him from getting up, it said.