Daniel Charles Ball, one of the hundreds of January 6 rioters who was charged with a violent crime, had his case dismissed on Tuesday after President Donald Trump issued a sweeping pardon to rioters, but by Wednesday, Ball was arrested again.
Ball, 39, was arrested in Washington D.C. on a firearm charge brought by a grand jury in Florida’s Middle District Court less than a day after his case in connection to January 6, 2021, was dismissed.
The indictment, unveiled on Wednesday, alleges Ball possessed a firearm and ammunition in May 2023 despite being convicted of three felonies between 2017 and 2021.
Ball was convicted of domestic violence battery by strangulation in 2017, resisting law enforcement with violence and battery on law enforcement officer in 2021, according to the indictment.
The firearm charge was unrelated to the charges he faced in his January 6 case but remained pending for nearly two years while Ball was held up in pretrial proceedings for his January 6 trial.
Ball was being held in pretrial detention while awaiting trial because a judge found that he “exhibited violent behavior” and “his charges are among the most severe of any related to the January 6 events.”
Prosecutors alleged Ball carried an explosive device to the Capitol that day and “hurled” it into the tunnel which allegedly caused officers to suffer hearing impairment for several days and months.
They claim Ball took a piece of wood from a shutter and carried it around with him while entering the Capitol for roughly two minutes.
A grand jury indicted Ball on 12 counts related to his actions that day including carrying an explosive, engaging in violence with a deadly weapon, assaulting or impeding officers with a deadly weapon and more.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Ball’s trial was initially set to take place in January but a judge vacated the date in October and had not re-set the trial date. On Tuesday, the judge dismissed the case with prejudice.
Ball was among the roughly 1,500 January 6 rioters who had the charges wiped from his record thanks to Trump. The president, who has sought to reframe January 6 as a day of “peace” and “love”, promised rioters he would pardon them upon taking office.
The mob of angry Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol that day did so believing Trump had unfairly lost the 2020 presidential election and that Democrats conducted mass voter fraud throughout the country to ensure former president Joe Biden won.
There is no evidence that mass voter fraud took place during the 2020 election.
Rioters were at the Capitol that day for a “Stop the Steal Rally” hosted by Trump. The president directed his supporters to go to the Capitol to “peacefully” protest Congress’s certification of election results.
Hundreds of people were injured during the riot and at least five deaths have been connected to that day.
