When FBI agents searched the home of Benjamin John Martin, 46, in Madera, Calif., they were looking for clothing, electronics, and other evidence related to his presence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Having noticed a large safe in the garage of Martin’s home, agents obtained a separate search warrant and discovered eight firearms, including an AR-15, a Mossberg shotgun, a Benelli 12-gauge shotgun, and a Kimber 1911 handgun. Agents also found hundreds of rounds of ammunition, court records show.
‘She heard one of the agents rack a weapon.’
The FBI opened the safe using a jaws-of-life-type hydraulic rescue tool supplied by local authorities, a defense attorney said.
When agents arrived to search the premises, they pointed their weapons at Martin’s fiancee, Cara, as she opened the front door. “Show me a warrant,” she said, according to Martin’s attorney, Brad Geyer.
“As I understand it, they did not have one, and the guns were pointed at her and she heard one of the agents rack a weapon,” Geyer told Blaze News.
“This is not justice — it’s lawfare,” Geyer said. “This is a terrible example of selective and vindictive prosecution that we are hoping will be interpreted by a Department of Justice that will modify its position with new leadership as being righteously covered by President Trump’s pardon.”
Under federal law, Martin was not allowed to possess firearms because he had a local misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence, the FBI said. Police allege Martin choked his then-girlfriend and dragged her back into a home when she tried to flee.
Martin’s fiancee had sole ownership of the weapons and exclusive access to the gun safe since 2018, Geyer said.
“Prosecutors charged Ben in a separate California federal case under a ‘constructive possession’ theory, citing a prior misdemeanor as justification,” Geyer said. “Due to legitimate concerns from his legal counsel about potential government retaliation against his fiancee if she testified in his defense, Ben insisted she not take the stand, and he was convicted in a bench trial.”
Based on the two search warrants, the U.S. Department of Justice opened two criminal cases against Martin: one for his presence at the Capitol and one for the weapons found in the safe in his garage. The FBI says the cases are “unrelated.”
Martin is one of seven or more former Jan. 6 defendants who remain behind bars despite a pardon or case dismissal powered by President Trump’s Jan. 20 pardon declaration.
Jeremy Brown still held
Arguably the most egregious of those cases is that of former Green Beret Jeremy Brown, who was shuttled out of the District of Columbia jail just after being told he would not be released.
Although Brown’s D.C. criminal case was dismissed more than two weeks ago, he was told that his Florida federal conviction prevents his release.
‘The last three weeks have been a nightmare.’
The DOJ and a U.S. district judge have stated for more than two years that the Florida weapons case brought against Brown was related to Jan. 6 and grew out of a Jan. 6 search of his residence and property. As such, his attorneys argue, it falls under President Trump’s pardon.
Brown, 50, of Tampa, remains behind federal bars in Atlanta as he waits to see if the DOJ or White House will act to set him free.
Brown has been cut off from at least four supporters — including his girlfriend — who had been communicating with him via the Bureau of Prisons messaging system. A Feb. 7 email received from the prison by one supporter said her communication with Brown “is detrimental to the security, good order, or discipline of the facility, or might facilitate criminal activity.”
Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown (left) on his way from the Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. At right is Florida Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs.
Photo by Luke Coffee
After being shuttled to three prisons during one week, Brown said the uncertainty of his situation is taking a toll.
“I’m just struggling,” he wrote in a Feb. 8 update message to supporters. “The last three weeks have been a nightmare. I’m tired from not being able to sleep. I’m cold from not having anything.
“My mind is frayed from lack of information, limited communications, and staring at the walls for hours, constantly wondering if the next sound I hear is the sound of them coming to let me out or take me to the next worst place.”
Carolyn Stewart, Brown’s attorney, said she has had some discussions with Trump administration officials, but so far there has been no action.
“I am disgusted that Jeremy is still in prison,” Stewart told Blaze News.
Stewart said the nexus of the weapons case to Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol is strong. Brown denied any connection to the grenades found at his residence, and the FBI was unable to tie them to Brown via forensics. Yet he was found guilty of possessing the explosives.
Brown has long asserted that his criminal cases were payback for his December 2020 refusal to inform on the Oath Keepers after two agents from the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force tried to recruit him just weeks before Jan. 6.
Medical freedom activist
Martin has a similar split case, but it differs in some key respects.
Court records show that the FBI had Martin’s residence under surveillance from April to September 2021, when he was arrested on Jan. 6 charges.
A high-school acquaintance called an FBI tip line after allegedly spotting Martin in news coverage of the U.S. Capitol. The tipster had been following Martin on Facebook but decided to stop because “Martin had become increasingly political in his views,” the FBI said. The tipster’s “significant other” still followed Martin on Facebook “to keep an eye on him,” court records said.
“Despite his peaceful conduct, Ben became the target of intense government surveillance in the months that followed,” Geyer said, “with authorities even using high-tech equipment to identify and monitor his fiancee’s gun safe in their garage.”
Martin, a real estate broker, was also an activist protesting local and state COVID-19 regulations that required patrons to wear masks while shopping. One grocery chain obtained a restraining order against Martin. Geyer said Martin might have been targeted in part because of his COVID activism before Jan. 6.
The local Fresno Bee newspaper referred to Martin as an “anti-masker” in a November 2024 headline. The newspaper also routinely referred to Jan. 6 as an “insurrection.”
Martin held a door on the north side of the Capitol open even after a police officer smashed at his hand with a baton, prosecutors said. He eventually entered the Capitol. While still outside the entrance, Martin was hit with pepper spray fired by police.
On June 26, 2024, a federal court jury found Martin guilty on six criminal counts, including civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Benjamin Martin (wearing flag gaiter) went to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Photos courtesy of Brad Geyer
He was also found guilty of the controversial felony of obstructing an official proceeding. Two days after the verdicts, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that vastly limits the use of 18 U.S. Code § 1512(c)(2) — a white-collar crime statute designed to combat accounting fraud. The charge in Martin’s case was dropped by prosecutors on October 15, 2024.
On Dec. 20, 2024, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Martin to 13 months in prison and four years of supervised release. The pardon proclamation signed by President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025, saved Martin from the prison term.
Martin was also sentenced to 38 months in prison on the weapons charge. In their sentencing memo in the weapons case, federal prosecutors accused Martin of engaging in “domestic terrorism,” although he was not charged with terrorism offenses. Prosecutors asked for 66 months in prison.
While maintaining that the weapons case grew from and was related to Jan. 6, Martin nevertheless reported for his prison sentence in late January. According to the Bureau of Prisons website, he is being held at FCI Lompoc, a low-security federal prison in Santa Barbara County, California. Geyer said, however, that Martin has been moved.
“The affidavit used to justify the search of his home and his fiancee’s gun safe was based solely on his peaceful participation on January 6,” Geyer said. “This gun prosecution would have never occurred if not for that day.”
Martin filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the gun case. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston denied his motion for bail pending the appeal. She ruled that President Trump’s pardon does not apply to Martin’s weapons case because “possessing weapons in California” did not “occur at or near the Capitol.”
In his appeal, Martin is challenging the constitutionality of the federal statute barring those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from possessing or owning firearms.
Protesters on the U.S. Capitol West Plaza on Jan. 6, 2021.
Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images
Former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, a whistleblower against the FBI’s weaponized tactics in Jan. 6 cases, said it’s not unusual or improper for agents to open a second case if they find evidence of a crime during execution of a separate search warrant.
“They were doing a search warrant for one thing and came across evidence of another crime,” Friend said. “So they got a second warrant.”
Friend said the FBI does not have to show a warrant until after agents complete the search.
Other pardoned Jan. 6 former defendants are also still behind bars due to various case-specific factors.
Elias Nick Costianes Jr., 46, of Nottingham, Md., had his Jan. 6 case dismissed by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Jan. 21. Costianes was arrested in February 2021 on three Jan. 6 charges: felony obstruction of Congress; unlawful entry; and violent entry, disorderly conduct, and other offenses on Capitol grounds.
On March 3, 2021, a grand jury indicted Costianes on six Jan. 6 criminal counts, adding the charges of entering and remaining in a gallery of Congress and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
According to the FBI’s statement of probable cause, Costianes rode a senators-only elevator and captured video with his phone in the Senate gallery.
While his main Jan. 6 case was dismissed, Costianes must report to federal prison on Feb. 12 on a conviction based on the Jan. 6 raid of his Maryland residence. The FBI said it found four vials of liquid testosterone, which is a controlled substance. Agents also found a “substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine,” according to the indictment, as well as four firearms, two of which the FBI said were not registered to Costianes.
Kelley created a ‘kill list’ of officials.
Costianes was charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute and possession of firearms and ammunition by an unlawful user of any controlled substance. Costianes said he was diagnosed with male hypogonadism, known colloquially as low T, but did not like dealing with prescriptions.
On April 21, 2022, a grand jury indicted Costianes on nine criminal counts, adding a second count of conspiracy to distribute and possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute, three counts of use of any communication facility to facilitate a drug felony, and three counts of distribution of a controlled substance.
The controlled substances at issue in the indictment were liquid testosterone and cocaine, court records showed.
In June 2023, Costianes agreed to plead guilty to the firearms count in exchange for dismissal of the other charges. Senior U.S. District Judge James Bredar sentenced Costianes to one year and one day in prison.
In a ruling on Jan. 28, 2025, Judge Bredar denied Costianes’ motion to postpone his prison surrender date while he pursues an appeal.
Edward R. Kelley, 36, of Maryville, Tenn., was found guilty in November 2024 on 11 criminal counts including civil disorder, assault, destruction of government property, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct. He was found not guilty by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of obstruction of an official proceeding.
Kelley was accused of throwing a U.S. Capitol Police officer to the ground under the scaffolding that covered the northwest steps. Prosecutors said Kelley used a long 2″x4″ section of lumber to smash through a window at the Senate Wing Door. He was among the first two rioters to jump through the broken window and breach the U.S. Capitol at 1:13 p.m. Security video showed that he helped kick open the Senate Wing Door from the inside before moving farther into the Capitol.
Kelley was due to be sentenced in April 2025. Under President Trump’s pardon proclamation issued on Jan. 20, the Jan. 6 case against Kelley was dismissed.
Edward Kelley stands on the Peace Monument near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Department of Justice
Kelley was also charged in Tennessee federal court in December 2022 with conspiracy to kill the FBI agents who investigated his Jan. 6 case. On Nov. 20, 2024, a jury in the Eastern District of Tennessee found Kelley guilty on three conspiracy-related charges. He is set to be sentenced in that case in June 2025.
Kelley and Austin Carter were charged in an indictment with conspiracy to murder employees of the United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, and influencing a federal official by threat.
Trial evidence showed that while awaiting trial on his dozen Jan. 6 charges, Kelley developed a plan to murder law enforcement officials including FBI agents, according to the DOJ. Kelley created a “kill list” of officials who worked on his Jan. 6 case and distributed the list with video images to Carter, 29, of Knoxville.
Carter took a plea deal offered by prosecutors that limits his prison time to 10 years or less. Both men were facing possible life prison sentences.
On Jan. 27, Kelley filed a motion to dismiss the conspiracy indictment against him based on President Trump’s pardon proclamation. That motion is still pending in federal district court in Knoxville.
Daniel Charles Ball, 39, of Homosassa Springs, Fla., had his Jan. 6-related case dismissed Jan. 21, 2025, on a request from the new DOJ based on President Trump’s pardon declaration. Ball had not yet gone to trial on an indictment that charged 11 criminal counts including use of an explosive to commit a felony; unlawful possession of an explosive in the Capitol grounds or buildings; civil disorder; assaulting police officers; and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Ball was charged with tossing an explosive device into the entrance of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 6. The explosive created a massive blinding flash and a heavy concussion, security video showed. Some police officers reported suffering hearing loss for months after Jan. 6, according to court records.
An explosion inside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel just before 5 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, was caused by an incendiary device prosecutors said was thrown by Daniel Charles Ball of Homosassa, Fla.U.S. Capitol Police CCTV
Ball was arrested while in federal custody on Jan. 22 on a warrant from August 2024, charging him with possession of a firearm by a felon. He was ordered to be moved from D.C. to the Middle District of Florida. On Feb. 10, Ball was freed under a supervised-release order on the Florida charge.
Taylor Franklin Taranto, 39, of Pasco, Wash., was charged in a criminal complaint in June 2023 with four trespass-related misdemeanor crimes, including knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, two disorderly conduct charges, and one charge of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. Video shows Taranto was in the hallway where Ashli Babbitt was shot at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6.
Police searching the van in which Taranto was apparently living in D.C. found two firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He was arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama in the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The search of his van led to six weapons-related charges made in a superseding indictment on Feb. 14, 2024.
Edward R. Martin Jr., the new U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dismiss with prejudice five Jan. 6 charges against Taranto. A sixth charge is under consideration for dismissal. The gun-related charges are being viewed as unrelated to Jan. 6 and not subject to dismissal under President Trump’s pardon declaration.
“The government will continue prosecuting the charges unrelated to January 6 and intends to proceed with the trial that is scheduled to begin on May 12, 2025,” the DOJ wrote in a Jan. 25 filing.
Dominic Xavier Box, 35, of Savannah, Ga., had his Jan. 6 case dismissed with prejudice on Jan. 22 on a motion from the new DOJ. Box was found guilty in an October 2024 bench trial on six criminal counts but had not been sentenced by the time President Trump issued pardons and sentence commutations on Jan. 20.
Box is behind bars in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, on a hold filed by prosecutors in Duval County, Fla., for an alleged misdemeanor offense. Box wants the Florida prosecutor to lift the hold so that he can post bond on the Florida charge and be freed from custody.
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