HORNTHAL, RILEY, ELLIS & MALAND, L.L.P.

Since August 2021, Marshall Ellis has represented Joy Reybein. Earlier that year, Ms. Reybein was indicted by a federal grand jury for felony charges involving possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and conspiring to do the same. Ms. Reybein, then 41, had no prior criminal convictions and had previously worked as a paralegal for a law firm in Greenville, North Carolina. In her 30’s, Ms. Reybein sustained an injury for which she was prescribed opioid pain medication. This medication ultimately led Ms. Reybein to experiment with other drugs, and before long, she became addicted to heroin and methamphetamine. After her arrest, the federal court decided Ms. Reybein was an appropriate candidate for in-patient substance abuse treatment rather than pretrial detention, which federal law usually requires for individuals who have been charged with a serious controlled substance offense. As a result, Ms. Reybein was allowed to report for treatment at Healing Transitions in Raleigh, North Carolina in May 2022. Ms. Reybein thereafter completed the 12-step recovery program at Healing Transitions by June 2023 and then began working for Healing Transitions as a Recovery Engagement Specialist. She has now been sober since March 2022 (27 months). With Marshall’s advice, Ms. Reybein pled guilty to one of her charges in June 2022. Though the charge to which she pled guilty carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment for most offenders, the exceptional circumstances in Joy’s case and her commitment to recovery allowed the court to sentence Joy below the 10-year mandatory minimum. On Tuesday of last week and with the support of law enforcement, the court did just that, sentencing Ms. Reybein to time served, meaning Joy did not have to spend another day in jail for her case. We are thankful to the court and law enforcement for this wonderful result, and we celebrate and applaud Joy’s successful recovery and her commitment to helping others who struggle with substance abuse. If you are under investigation for or have been charged with a federal crime or an offense against the State of North Carolina, contact our office to speak with Marshall, who has been certified as a specialist in Federal and State Criminal Law by the North Carolina State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization.

Since February 2021, one of our attorneys, Marshall Ellis, has represented Stephen Ethan Horn, an independent journalist from North Carolina who was in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, and documented the events at the United States Capitol that day. After offering his video footage of the things he witnessed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist its investigation of the Capitol Riot and later agreeing to a voluntary interview with the agency, federal prosecutors decided to charge Mr. Horn with four crimes for his journalism at the Capitol. After litigating a number of pretrial motions, both dispositive and evidentiary-related, Mr. Horn proceeded to trial before a Washington, DC, jury in September 2023. Consistent with the caption Stephen posted along with his video to Facebook on the night he returned from Washington after covering the events at the Capitol, Mr. Horn testified on his own behalf that he “did not enter the Capitol Building as part of the protest, or for cheap thrills, but to accurately document and record a significant event which was taking place.” The trial lasted three-and-a-half days and ended with the jury convicting Mr. Horn of all four offenses. This verdict was consistent with all other verdicts rendered in January 6 cases by Washington juries to date. Even though Stephen did not damage any part of the Capitol or its grounds and never physically or verbally confronted law enforcement, his mere presence at the Capitol was enough for him to be charged and convicted in this case. Mr. Horn’s sentencing hearing was held in Washington on January 10, 2024, before United States District Judge Timothy J. Kelly. Prior to sentencing, the government recommended that Judge Kelly sentence Mr. Horn to 10 months’ imprisonment. On behalf of Mr. Horn, Marshall argued that such punishment was excessive and greater than necessary to serve the goals of sentencing in Mr. Horn’s case. Marshall submitted that a probationary sentence with no jail time was appropriate. Judge Kelly rejected the government’s sentencing recommendation and adopted Mr. Horn’s position, sentencing him to 12 months’ probation and a $2,000 fine. That Mr. Horn did not receive a sentence of imprisonment is an exception to the sentencing trend for most January 6 defendants, particularly those convicted after exercising their right to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment. https://lnkd.in/ehUrQ-BG