Jon Schaffer’s Legal Team Withdraws Motion for Dismissal Over The Speedy Trial Act to Allow More Time for Discovery

Jon Schaffer, who had been the guitarist of Iced Earth and is currently in jail due to an alleged participation during the Capitol riot that occurred last January, has agreed to temporarily forego his previous motion to have all charges against him dismissed. Schaffer and his team’s reasoning for forging the rights afforded by the Speedy Trial Act are due to the argument that they need more time to gather their case.

Schaffer’s attorney had filed motion that all charges, which include Disrupting the Orderly Conduct of Government Business, Knowingly Engaging in an Act of Physical Violence Against Any Person or Property in any Restricted Building or Grounds Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building, Engaging in an Act of Physical Violence in a Capitol Building, and Parading and Demonstrating or Picketing in a Capitol Building, be dropped due to the Speedy Trial Act.

Schaffer had been in custody for 48 days by the time his lawyer had requested the charges be dismissed last month, the Act claiming that if the government failed to move the trial within 30 days of an arrest, the complaint must then be dismissed. Schaffer has been awaiting extradition to Washington D.C. since he turned himself in back in January, the guitarist still in an Indiana jail. The government has been facing a backlog in cases since the storming of the Capitol, which is what has caused Schaffer to not yet be extradited.

A judge had deemed Schaffer as “a potential threat to the community” following the request that his charges be dropped. He has also been ordered to be held without bail until his trail. Schaffer is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, April 6, for hearing in relation to being released on bond. A statement of the filing that had been obtained by Metal Sucks extended the period for Schaffer’s court-ordered pre-trail detainment for an additional 30 days, which has shifted the window to May 3.

“ORDERED that the period from April 2, 2021 through May 3, 2021 shall be excluded from computing the time within which an information or indictment must be filed under the Speedy Trial Act because the ends of justice served by such a continuance outweigh the interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.”