A Georgia woman and her son are scheduled to go to trial in April on multiple felony charges related to their alleged participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Lisa Marie Eisenhart, 58, and Eric Munchel, 32, of Woodstock, appeared Friday via teleconference in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., to enter a formal not guilty plea to an updated 10-count indictment related to the pair’s alleged actions during the riot. Judge Royce Lamberth set April 11 as the start of what is anticipated will be a weeklong trial.
Eisenhart and Munchel were among the first Georgians arrested in the days after the Capitol riot and spent 11 weeks in jail before they were granted bond at the end of March 2021.
Since that time, progress in their case has been slow, while the majority of Georgians charged in the riot have pleaded guilty. The slow pace of their case is due largely to the severity of the crimes with which they are charged.
Both have pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment including obstruction of an official proceeding, which carries possible 20-year prison sentence. Prosecutors also have charged Munchel with carrying a dangerous weapon — a Taser attached to his belt — which also carries a possible 10-year sentence.
Munchel, who grew up in Georgia but was living in Nashville at the time of his arrest, achieved internet notoriety as the “zip-tie guy” when a photo emerged online showing him in tactical gear climbing over seats in the Senate gallery with a handful of plastic wrist restraints. Attorneys for the pair have said Munchel and Eisenhart found the zip-ties at a police checkpoint inside the Capitol and did not bring them to the riot.
The Eisenhart/Munchel trial is one of several scheduled for the first half of 2023 involving Georgians. William McCall Calhoun, an Americus attorney facing felony charges from the riot, is slated to stand trial next month. Milton resident Bruno Cua, who reached the floor of the Senate during the riot, is scheduled to stand trial in February.
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