With President-elect Donald Trump’s second term on the horizon, a Jan. 6 defendant in Harford County is anticipating more favorable circumstances and trying to buy time.

Brandon Keith Heffner’s federal case to block police from leaving the US Capitol building in early 2021 has been making its way through the legal system for nearly a year. Just two days after Trump’s election victory, Heffner’s lawyer, Andrés Jalon, asked a federal judge on Thursday to delay the case until Trump appoints a new U.S. attorney who is almost certain to overhaul the Justice Department.

Heffner is charged with obstructing law enforcement during a civil disturbance, as well as misdemeanor counts of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive behavior in a restricted building or grounds, and conduct messy in a Capitol building, according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington, DC

Trump has pledged to pardon rioters during his second term, he said earlier this summer during a panel discussion organized by the National Association of Black Journalists.

Heffner is not the only defendant seeking a reprieve. Other attorneys representing the Jan. 6 defendants are making similar requests this week, according to the Washington Post.

The 38-year-old is one of more than 30 Marylanders were charged by the US Department of Justice with participation in the siege, according to a The George Washington University Law Journal. Most of the cases have ended in convictions or guilty pleas, though about a dozen, including Heffner’s, are still pending.

Prior to his arrest, Heffner was interviewed by FBI agents in November 2021 in a public parking lot, during which he told them he was a former member of The Proud Boys, an all-male neo-fascist group. Heffner told investigators he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but denied breaking into the building.

Heffner said his beard was too short to be the person wearing black tactical gear, a helmet and a backpack who appeared with other rioters in video footage posted on the social media app Parler. Federal authorities said Heffner and others could be seen in the footage blocking an exterior door on the lower west terrace of the US Capitol and holding it shut, preventing police from getting out to use tear gas.

“Spread the word,” said another unnamed rioter at the fight Heffner allegedly joined. “They’re trying to get out and throw tear gas.”

A confidential informant later told FBI agents on March 15, 2022, that Heffner is a chapter leader for the Maryland/District of Columbia Proud Boys. The informant identified Heffner as the person in the photos.

Federal authorities also noted that they arrested Heffner earlier on December 12, 2020, in Washington, DC, for assaulting a police officer, while he was wearing a black tactical vest, a black helmet and a much longer beard. long. Supporters of then-President Trump, including members of the Proud Boys, clashed with counter-protesters that day in DC