PITTSBURGH — Seventeen Capitol riot cases in Washington, D.C., are at a "standstill" because a one-time Pittsburgh lawyer representing the defendants is missing while a Fayette County man who isn't a lawyer and is facing felony charges has been improperly representing them in his place, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia.
Attorney John Pierce, an Erie native who ran unsuccessfully for Allegheny County treasurer in 2003 and now practices in Los Angeles, is apparently sick with COVID-19 and has been sending Ryan Marshall, 31, of Uniontown to represent clients in his absence, according to a court filing last week filed by a D.C. prosecutor.
Marshall is an associate of Pierce's law firm but is not a licensed attorney, so he isn't allowed to represent clients in federal court, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman.
In addition, Marshall is facing felony charges in two cases in Fayette County Common Pleas Court, Juman said.
"Because Mr. Pierce is unavailable and Mr. Marshall cannot ethically or legally represent Mr. Pierce's clients, the government is making the Court aware of Mr. Pierce’s reported illness so that it can take any steps it believes necessary to ensure the defendants’ rights are adequately protected while Mr. Pierce remains hospitalized," Juman wrote.
Prosecutors haven't heard from Pierce since Aug. 23, when he appeared before a federal judge in one of the U.S. Capitol riot cases.
Since that time, the U.S. attorney's office has heard "conflicting information" about Pierce's health and whereabouts.
On Aug. 24, he was to appear for a status hearing but didn't show up. Marshall appeared in his place and told the judge that Pierce was absent because of a conflict. A few hours later, Juman wrote, Marshall attended another hearing for a different defendant represented by Pierce and told a prosecutor that he had been told Pierce had been in an accident and was on his way to a hospital.
On Aug. 25, Marshall again appeared in place of Pierce in yet another hearing for an accused Capitol rioter and this time told the judge that Pierce had been hospitalized with COVID-19 and was on a ventilator.
After that information became public, someone else told an NPR correspondent that Pierce did not have COVID-19 but was hospitalized because of symptoms that might be related to COVID-19 and "appears to have been suffering from dehydration and exhaustion," Juman wrote.
The next day Marshall appeared again in another case, U.S. v. Peter Schwartz, a Kentucky man who had been living in Uniontown when he was charged in connection with the Capitol riots. This time Marshall told a prosecutor that he had not had contact with Pierce but that a friend of Pierce had told him that Pierce was sick with COVID-19. Marshall said another friend, however, told him Pierce was not sick with COVID-19, Juman wrote.
Later that evening the NPR correspondent reported that a "source close" to Pierce said Pierce was hospitalized and diagnosed with COVID-19 but was not on a ventilator.
"Adding to the confusion," Juman wrote, Pierce has not tweeted anything since Aug. 20 when he normally tweets multiple times a day. Various phone numbers for Pierce's law firm, Pierce Bainbridge, have been disconnected as well and the firm appears to be defunct.
Juman said the U.S. now finds itself in a position where 17 defendants charged in the riots don't have counsel because their lawyer is unable to communicate and his representative is a non-lawyer facing criminal charges.
"Indeed, it appears that Mr. Pierce’s absence has already caused Mr. Marshall to take actions on behalf of Mr. Pierce’s clients that he is not permitted to do," Juman wrote.
He said the cases are "effectively at a standstill" because the government does not believe it is appropriate to continue to communicate with Marshall.
Marshall, a former law clerk in Fayette County, is accused there of illegally intercepting communications and unlawful use of an audio device in court. Those charges were filed following other charges in which he is accused of defrauding a widow of $86,000 from her late husband's estate while working as a law clerk.
That fraud case was announced in August 2020 by the Fayette County district attorney following a state grand jury investigation into corruption in Fayette County dubbed "Operation Clean Sweep."
As for Pierce, he grew up in Erie and graduated from Harvard Law School. According to his resume, he also served in the Army as a tank platoon leader. He moved to Pittsburgh in 2000 and worked at two law firms in the city in the early 2000s while living in Squirrel Hill.
A conservative Republican, he ran for county treasurer in 2003 against John Weinstein and was endorsed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He drew attention during that election in part because of a gimmick — having a person dressed in a chicken suit venture into public on his behalf. His stated goal at the time was to abolish the treasurer's office.
Pierce lost.
He later moved to California in the mid-2000s and worked at a series of high-end law firms there before forming his own firm, Pierce Bainbridge, which has apparently now folded.
