Left: James Beeks (circled in red) is seen participating in the “stack” of Oath Keepers members approaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Right: Beeks in front of a poster for the touring company of “Jesus Christ Superstar” (via FBI court filings).
An actor who joined the anti-government Oath Keepers extremist group in breaching the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has been acquitted at trial — after representing himself and all but agreeing that the government had enough evidence to convict him.
James Beeks, 51, was found not guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder. He had appeared in a stipulated trial before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, a Barack Obama appointee who has overseen at least two other high-profile Oath Keepers Jan. 6 trials.
“For reasons stated on the record, the Court finds Defendant James Beeks NOT GUILTY,” Mehta wrote in a docket entry on Wednesday. Beeks was subsequently released from pretrial supervision, the order said.
According to prosecutors, Beeks had joined the Oath Keepers on Dec. 21, 2020, just two weeks before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, when Donald Trump supporters rushed the building as Congress had started to certify Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election. He traveled to the Washington, D.C., area from Florida from Jan. 4-8, and although he did join a group allegedly organized by Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and top deputy Kelly Meggs in storming the Capitol building in a military-style “stack” formation, Mehta apparently found that the government failed to prove a level of involvement that could justify a conviction.
Beeks, a one-time Broadway actor and Florida resident who played Judas in a tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, apparently wore a jacket from Michael Jackson’s 1987 BAD world tour during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“I was duped,” Beeks said to WUSA reporter Jordan Fischer of his affiliation with the Oath Keepers after his acquittal. “I didn’t know anything about them. I didn’t know what the ulterior motives were,” he also said.
Mehta said that there was no evidence Beeks had participated in the online planning chats with the group, WUSA reported. Video evidence from the government appeared to show Beeks walking “aimlessly” by Meggs as he is believed to have laid out the plan to block Congress’ certification proceeding, but Mehta said it wasn’t enough.
“Whatever was said during that huddle, I’m not convinced Mr. Beeks heard it,” Mehta said, according to WUSA.
Meggs and Rhodes were convicted of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack and were sentenced to 18 years and 12 years respectively in prison.
In December, Beeks decided to represent himself at trial, although he did allow standby counsel Greg Hunter to deliver his closing argument, WUSA reported.
As part of the stipulated trial, prosecutors had agreed to drop an additional five counts with which Beeks had originally been charged. Following Beeks’ acquittal, Mehta ordered the U.S. Marshal Service to cover his trial travel expenses.
“[T]he court is satisfied that he is financially unable to provide the necessary transportation to appear before the required court on his own,” Mehta said in a written order. “Accordingly, the court hereby directs the U.S. Marshal Service to furnish the fare (or expenses) for Defendant Beeks’s noncustodial transportation by car from Orlando, Florida, to Washington, D.C., for his stipulated bench trial[.]”
Mehta also ordered the federal government to provide Beeks with a per diem for “subsistence expenses.”
An acquittal following a stipulated trial — in which a defendant and prosecutors agree to a set of facts that form the basis of the judge’s ultimate decision — is extremely rare.
“I have never seen an acquittal after a stipulated trial,” attorney Michael Harwin, a former federal prosecutor, said to Law&Crime. “It’s very unusual.”
Harwin said that a defendant ordinarily agrees to a stipulated trial to get a better sentence “when guilt is nearly impossible to defend.”
“I cannot imagine bringing a case if there was any chance to get an acquittal in a stipulated trial,” he added.
Beeks’ co-defendant, Donovan Crowl, was convicted of both charges. His sentencing has been set for Nov. 17.
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