Judge says Ashli Babbitt family’s suit over Jan. 6 death must go to trial before end of 2025

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt’s family against the U.S. government must go to trial before the end of 2025, a judge ruled Friday.

In a terse order, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said that a multiyear pretrial schedule proposed by Babbitt’s family and the government in the $30 million suit is “unacceptable.”

“The parties are directed to meet and confer on a schedule that puts trial, at the latest, in December 2025,” Reyes said.

Babbitt was shot and killed by law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack as she attempted to climb through a barricaded door near the House chamber. The shooting was captured on video, and Babbitt has since been portrayed by the political right as a martyr who was unjustly killed.

The lawsuit for wrongful death and assault and battery was filed this January by conservative legal group Judicial Watch on behalf of Babbitt’s estate and her husband, Aaron Babbitt.

In court filings Friday, lawyers for Babbitt’s family and the government jointly proposed a pretrial schedule that would stretch into 2027 before heading to trial around October or November of that year.

The parties’ proposal suggested that discovery would last eight months, beginning in January 2026 with a deadline for completion by Sept. 21 that year. Though they agreed on the timeline, they disagreed on how many discovery requests and depositions should be allowed as part of that process.

Babbitt’s lawyers suggested that 100 interrogatories, 50 fact depositions and unlimited requests for production of documents and admission should be allowed due to the chaos of the scene where Babbitt was killed and the investigation that followed. 

They contended that scores of rioters and law enforcement officers, plus some House members and staff, were present in the space where Babbitt was shot, and “many other witnesses” became involved during the aftermath, from paramedics to the officials who investigated the shooting. 

“Plaintiffs’ requested increases also seek to prevent the use of limits on discovery to shield the facts and avoid or limit liability for the government’s singularly most embarrassing event on January 6 – the officer shooting and killing of Ashli Babbitt,” Babbitt’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

The government instead suggested that 25 interrogatories and 25 fact depositions should be allowed, in addition to 50 requests for admission and 25 requests for the production of documents.

“The above limitations reflect Defendant’s view that this case focuses on the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, a circumscribed event confined to a narrow time period,” the government wrote. 

“Defendant’s requested limitations to document discovery also seek to prevent use of this litigation to launch a sweeping inquiry into January 6 that far exceeds the scope of permissible discovery and the claims presented in this lawsuit,” their proposal said.

Babbitt was one of four people killed in the mob of pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol as the certification of the 2020 presidential election was ongoing, though two of the others died of natural causes and the third died of an accidental overdose, according to The New York Times. Several police officers also died in the days and weeks after the riot.

The Babbitt family’s lawsuit alleges that U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was negligent when he fired at Babbitt that day, contending he did not identify as an officer and failed to provide her with “any warnings or commands” before shooting. The lawsuit also purports Babbitt “posed no threat to the safety of anyone.”

“The facts speak truth,” the lawsuit reads. “Ashli was ambushed when she was shot by Lt. Byrd.”

An internal investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police found that Byrd acted lawfully and within department policy and would face no discipline. It also determined that Byrd’s actions had “potentially saved members and staff from serious injury and possible death.”