Bartholomew County men plead guilty for role in U.S. Capitol riot

Donald Lee Moss, 62, of Elizabethtown, and James Link Behymer, 61, of Hope, each pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.

Two Bartholomew County men pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to assaulting law enforcement officers during the January 6, 2021, riot and breach of the U.S. Capitol.

Donald Lee Moss, 62, of Elizabethtown, and James Link Behymer, 61, of Hope, each pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. They will be sentenced on Feb. 13, 2025.

Moss and Behymer were arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges, including for assaulting law enforcement during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Their actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.           

The two men were charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with felony offenses of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers. The two men are also charged with several misdemeanor offenses, including entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building or grounds.      The FBI arrested the men on March 6, in Indiana. The two made their initial appearance in the Southern District of Indiana.           

According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, at approximately 2:00 p.m., a group of approximately fifteen Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers, wearing riot gear, walked toward the Lower West Terrace of the United States Capitol building to assist in managing a growing crowd of rioters. Here, on the Lower West Terrace, angry and violent rioters descended on, and surrounded, the officers and began shouting obscenities and curses at them.           

At approximately 2:01 p.m., body-worn camera video footage shows two men, later identified as defendants Moss and Behymer briefly speaking to each other and pointing at the officers before approaching. Officers then directed the two men move back, but they refused. Behymer raised his right arm with a closed fist and repeatedly shouted, “USA! USA! USA!” At the same time, Moss pointed towards the U.S. Capitol building and shouted, “[Unintelligible]. This is our f—ing house!” A few seconds later, an officer extended their hand and touched Behymer’s right arm, and attempted to keep him back. Moss then forcefully shoved the officer’s hand off of Behymer. After Moss shoved the officer’s arm, he shouted, “[Unintelligible] . . .your f—ing hand off of him!” and “Keep your f—ing hand off of him!”           

Behymer then shoved another officer’s arm as that officer attempted to keep Behymer and other rioters away from the surrounded MPD officers. After Behymer pushed the second officer’s arm, Moss pointed at the second officer and shouted for the third time, “Keep your f—ing hand off of him!” Behymer then raised his fist in the air and again shouted, “USA! USA! USA!”         

Court documents say that Moss and Behymer continued to engage with police. In one instance, Moss swung his right arm downward and struck and officer’s hand and baton and in another, forcefully pushed an MPD officer from behind. Behymer repeatedly physical confronted police and grabbed at their hands and batons.           

After their physical confrontation with police, the two men climbed a staircase to the Upper West Terrace and entered the Capitol building via the Senate Wing doors at approximately 2:13 p.m. The two men then made their way to the Capitol Crypt. At about 2:31 p.m., Moss was recorded on Capitol closed-circuit television (CCTV) in the Crypt Lobby, carrying a chair across the room and placing it directly in the path of a retractable ceiling door, which would prevent the door from closing. Court documents say that immediately before Moss moved the chair into the door’s path, police were attempting to close off the area by closing the retractable doors. Moss and Behymer then exited the Capitol at approximately 2:41 p.m. and 2:43 p.m.           

At about 2:48 p.m., rioters broke through a barricade set up by Capitol Police at the Senate Wing doors. Roughly two minutes later, Moss and Behymer re-entered the Capitol again via the Senate Wing doors and walked toward the Crypt before exiting at 3:34 p.m.                      

Moss was listed as BOLO (Be on the Lookout) #401 on the FBI’s website. 

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