Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio (center) in Portland, Oregon, in 2020. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post)
A D.C. police lieutenant has asked to be tried by a federal judge, instead of a jury, next month on charges that he warned the leader of the far-right Proud Boys group that he would be arrested days before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, then lied to investigators about their interactions, according to a court filing Tuesday.
Shane Lamond, a 24-year veteran of the D.C. police and the department’s head of intelligence at the time he was talking to Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, signed the request for a bench trial on Sept. 30, and U.S. prosecutors approved it Tuesday, according to the filing. The request still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, but given that both sides agree, that is largely a formality.
Lamond, 48, of Stafford, Virginia, has pleaded not guilty and faces trial on Dec. 2 on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements. He is accused of leaking information to Tarrio during the group’s planned protests in D.C. in 2020 and the run-up to its central role in the Capitol riot. Lamond’s duties at the time included monitoring extremist groups. Lamond is also accused of lying to investigators when asked if he had told Tarrio he would be arrested for his part in burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from a historic African American church during a pro-Trump rally in the weeks before the Capitol riot.
“We have a great deal of faith in the court, and we want to take any politics and emotion out of this case, because the facts are clear: Shane Lamond has neither made false statements nor obstructed justice,” defense lawyer Mark E. Schamel said in an interview.
Schamel has previously described his client’s contacts with Tarrio as professional and part of his work to obtain intelligence and prevent clashes between the Proud Boys and other groups. Lamond’s wife had posted on social media that her husband was being criticized for doing his job.
Prosecutors alleged during Tarrio’s trial that the Proud Boys’ anger at police deepened when they received word that Tarrio would be arrested in Washington, spurring them to plan for violence.
Tarrio, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy after being found guilty with three other Proud Boys leaders in the Capitol riot, is a potential witness in Lamond’s trial, while his own case remains on appeal. Tarrio argued during his trial that his communications with Lamond showed the Proud Boys did not conspire to commit violence and that the group had shared its plans with law enforcement.
U.S. prosecutors alleged in Lamond’s indictment that the officer was sharing other information, which Tarrio passed on to other Proud Boys members and acted on.
Lamond faces a mandatory three-year minimum sentence and up to 30 years in prison if convicted of the obstruction of justice charge. The false statement counts are each punishable by up to five years. Federal advisory sentencing guidelines for a first offender would fall around three years.
