Judge gives SC man charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot more time to decide on trial, plea deal

A South Carolina man who is charged with leading “a pack of rioters” through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has been given until June 29 to decide whether to plead guilty or face trial.

William “Robbie” Norwood III, of Greer, has been transferred to various federally-approved detention facilities since being taken into custody for witness tampering in mid-March. Technical difficulties have led to the delay in a decision on Norwood’s Jan. 6-related charges, his lawyer told a federal judge Thursday in a virtual hearing.

“We’ve been involved in negotiations with the government” and a plea offer has been extended, Norwood’s lawyer, Peter Cooper, told U.S. Judge Emmet Sullivan. Cooper indicated, but did not promise, a decision by June 30.

Although Norwood — now in confinement in Petersburg, Virginia — told the judge he would like to be transferred to a facility closer to Washington, the judge cautioned him that COVID-19 was rampant in District of Columbia-area detention facilities where defendants in Jan. 6 criminal cases are being held.

Sullivan said he would try to get Norwood moved closer to Washington but cautioned that judges have little sway with the detainee system.

In remarks during the hearing, Norwood complained that although the Petersburg facility is fine in some ways, he is confined in a small area called “the shoe” and lacks access to a telephone.

“I’m just locked up like I’m a convicted murderer,” Norwood told the judge. “I don’t know why I’m being treated this way here. ... I’m in a cell all day long, with one hour out in the cage during the day. I don’t get access to the telephone. I’ve not had a phone call in three or four days.”

Moreover, Norwood said, “they don’t walk you anywhere without holding on to you. I don’t know why they’re treating me like this.”

Norwood was arrested in March 2021 for charges that stem from the Capitol riot, but was free on bond.

Last October, he rejected an initial government plea offer. And two months ago, following numerous complaints by his estranged wife that he was threatening her to prevent her from becoming a government witness, a South Carolina magistrate judge ordered Norwood taken into custody after finding he posed a danger to law enforcement.

Norwood has remained behind bars since then, being confined in Georgia and now in Petersburg.

“He’s been bouncing around half the eastern seaboard,” Cooper told the judge.

Norwood is charged with being at the front of a mob who roamed the building, according to prosecutors’ evidence in his case. He was one of the first rioters inside the building, and also stole body armor and a helmet belonging to Capitol police, prosecutors charge.

Crucial evidence against him comes from selfie videos he took of himself inside the Capitol, according to prosecution documents.

Norwood roamed the Capitol that day, spending time in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, and, at one point shouting, “What now! This is our house. ... Where you at, Nancy?”

Norwood later went to another part of the Capitol, where he and other rioters “banged on doors” to the outside and “eventually pushed open the doors, which allowed hundreds of rioters to stream into the U.S. Capitol Building from the outside,” according to evidence.

Norwood, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, has been indicted on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, theft of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, entering and remaining in certain rooms in the Capitol building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol Building.

A complaint in his case said Norwood was turned in to the FBI by a person who was connected to a text message group chat that Norwood sent texts to before and after the Capitol riots. Other evidence concerning Norwood includes government video surveillance from inside the Capitol, the complaint said.

Seven of the 11 people from South Carolina arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 riots have pleaded guilty.

The other four, including Norwood, had not decided by Thursday.

In all, more than 810 people have been arrested in connection with the storming of the Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, which is handling the cases. Of those, approximately 280 have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges so far.