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Joseph W. Fischer, 57 of Jonestown, was an officer with the North Cornwall Township Police Department when he was arrested in connection with his role in the riot, according to federal court documents obtained by Daily Voice.
On Jan. 6, he was at “the front of the pack pushing against police” and was spotted on police body cam video yelling “Charge!” as stated in the affidavit.
Later, Fischer posted a video of himself entering the Capitol as detailed in the affidavit of probable cause. He also joked on Facebook the North Cornwall Twp. PD Chief talked to him about his role in the riot and said he “may need a job.”
“I told him if that is the price I have to pay to voice my freedom and liberties which I was born with and thusly taken away, then [that] must be the price,” investigators said Fischer wrote. “I told him I have no regrets.”
He was charged with felonies including obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting officers, and interfering with police during a civil disorder.
He is one of approximately 350 people who were charged with obstruction in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
When Fischer's case was before the US Supreme Court, the justices ruled 6-3 that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents, according to an opinion by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented.
The obstruction statute was enacted in response to the financial scandal that led to the 2002 collapse of Enron Corp. The statute made it a felony crime to “obstruct, influence or impede any official proceeding" which could land someone a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
”The government’s theory would ... criminalize a broad swath of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists to decades in prison,” Roberts wrote.
Fischer's case will return to a lower court to see if he can still be charged with obstruction, under the new interpretation of the statute.
As for his job with the North Cornwall Township Police Department, he has been suspended without pay since Feb. 2021 — when the FBI arrested him.
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