Proud Boy singled out in Capitol Police 'slipping in blood' testimony demands trial delay due to 'publicity'

• Joseph Biggs was name-dropped 4 times in Officer Caroline Edwards' 'slipping in blood' testimony.
• On Thursday he demanded a four-month trial delay due to the bad publicity.

Proud Boy Joseph Biggs wants his seditious-conspiracy trial delayed until December — because Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards name-dropped him four times during her prime time, 'slipping in blood' testimony last Monday.

In papers filed Thursday, Biggs says the bad publicity from Edwards' testimony before the House Select Committee on January 6 is too damaging for him to get a fair trial on the current August 8 starting date.

"Biggs seeks to start trial after the midterms are over and some 'dust has settled' with respect to public opinion," the filing says.

"It's certainly not a frivolous motion," Judge Timothy Kelly — who will preside over the eventual trial — said during a hearing later Thursday.

Biggs and co-defendant Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola have joined in asking Kelly to sever their trial from that of their three co-defendants, who include ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.

The judge said he may rule on the motion next Wednesday.

Biggs is accused of leading the crowd that broke through the first metal, bike-rack barrier at the Peace Circle, and of being the very first rioter to bust a window and enter the Capitol.

"It was the crowd led by Joseph Biggs," Edwards testified during the first House Select Committee hearing, held on June 9.

"Joseph Bigg's rhetoric turned to the Capitol Police," she testified, noting Biggs' was using a megaphone.

"He started asking us questions like, 'You didn't miss a paycheck during the pandemic?'" she testified, adding that it was at this point she said, "Sarge, I think we're going to need a few more people down here."

Edwards' highly compelling testimony included her account of being struck in the head by a bike rack, blacking out from a head injury, and then regaining consciousness in violent chaos she likened to being in military combat.

"I was slipping in people's blood," Edwards' memorably testified.

In papers filed Tuesday, Biggs cited bad publicity from that testimony in requesting that the trial be moved out of Washington, DC. to Miami, Florida.

"A show. A production. A spectacle," that filing, written by Biggs attorney John Hull, says of the hearings.

Edwards' testimony was "seen by over 20 million Americans," the filing says. "Including lovably dorky, wonky, media-attentive Washingtonians" who would comprise the jury pool, it says.

Tarrio and other co-defendants have also asked to move the trial; those requests, too, are pending.