Already behind bars, Clay County man takes misdemeanor plea deal in U.S. Capitol riot case

Steve Patterson, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
Adam Avery Honeycutt seen in a photo that was posted on his Facebook page, showing him near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Adam Avery Honeycutt seen in a photo that was posted on his Facebook page, showing him near the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Already locked up for guns and marijuana federal agents found in his home, an Orange Park man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single misdemeanor for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

Adam Avery Honeycutt, 40, is scheduled to be sentenced May 4, a little less than three weeks before his expected release by the federal Bureau of Prisons.

Whether he’ll be sentenced to more time behind bars is an open question.

The misdemeanor he pleaded guilty to — parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building — carries a maximum sentence of six months, but some Capitol riot defendants have gotten probation after being convicted of that.

Honeycutt has been locked up since February 2021, first awaiting trial and then serving the 18-month sentence he received for pleading guilty to possessing firearms while being a user of illegal drugs, namely the pot that FBI agents found at his home when they showed up with warrants while investigating the riot. There were also seven guns in the home, and Honeycutt told agents all but one of those were his.

No one accused Honeycutt of bringing guns or pot to the riot.

Honeycutt had been charged last year with two misdemeanors, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman agreed in a plea deal that one count was enough to resolve the case.

Adam Avery Honeycutt seen in a photo that was posted on his Facebook page, showing him apparently inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Adam Avery Honeycutt seen in a photo that was posted on his Facebook page, showing him apparently inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Kleinman told U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols that if he’d needed to go to trial, he would have been able to show that Honeycutt posted videos on Facebook showing that he was at the Capitol the day of the riot and that he’d shot video inside a U.S. Senate conference room that showed an overturned conference table.

Honeycutt left the conference room by crawling through a broken window, according to a “statement of facts” that the former bail bondsman’s plea agreement acknowledged was accurate.

Honeycutt is among more than 700 people nationwide who’ve been charged with crimes from the riot, where supporters of former President Donald Trump temporarily stopped Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Five people died during or soon after the riot.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Orange Park man pleads guilty to minor charge in U.S. Capitol riot