Federal appeals court upholds ex-Capitol Police officer’s conviction for deleting warning to Jan. 6 rioter

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the obstruction conviction of a former U.S. Capitol Police officer who urged a Jan. 6 rioter to erase incriminating social media posts — and later deleted evidence of his own attempts to warn the rioter.

Michael Riley, a 25-year police veteran who was on duty when a mob attacked the Capitol, faced charges for telling a rioter to “take down” a Facebook post that acknowledged the rioter had been inside the Capitol, warning that “everyone who was in the building is going to be charged.” He was also accused of later attempting to cover up their correspondence by deleting direct messages on Facebook and proof of calls.

A jury convicted Riley on one count of obstructing an official proceeding for deleting his own messages and calls, but it failed to reach a verdict on his advice to the rioter, which resulted in a mistrial and the dismissal of that charge.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Friday that Riley’s conviction would stand.

The ex-Capitol Police officer argued on appeal that the government did not prove that a grand jury proceeding over his conduct was foreseeable and that he deleted his contact with the rioter to evade any such proceeding.

“The record is to the contrary,” Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote in the panel’s 21-page decision. “Riley was a veteran Capitol Police officer concededly aware of the role of grand juries in the criminal process, and his own messages showed he expected felony prosecutions of unauthorized entrants into the Capitol building on January 6.”

Pillard called Riley’s core argument “flawed,” and thus, all arguments failed, the panel ruled.

Riley was sentenced to two years of probation and four months of home detention. During his sentencing in April, he said “awful judgment” cost him his career and tarnished his reputation.

“The amount of regret and remorse I have over this situation is unimaginable,” Riley told the judge, according to The Associated Press.