Criminal cases involving current and former Polk County residents were dismissed following President Donald Trump’s signing of an executive order granting pardons or commuted sentences to all charged with January 6 crimes.
Judge Carl J. Nichols granted a motion to dismiss all 17 counts in an indictment against Jonathan Pollock of North Lakeland. Pollock’s charges included assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol.
Pollock, 25, was a fugitive for 2½ years before his capture by FBI agents in Lake County on Jan. 6, 2024. He had been scheduled for trial in February.
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said Wednesday by email that the agency was working to implement Trump’s executive order for the release of all Jan. 6 defendants and had filed motions to vacate and dismiss all pending cases with the U.S. District Court.
Those being held before sentencing were in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, the spokesperson said. When judges grant motions, “USMS will execute the pardon by making arrangements for each defendant to be returned to the jurisdiction of their federal arrest.”
A federal public defender filed an emergency motion Wednesday for Joseph Hutchinson III, who had been facing multiple felony accounts and was previously representing himself. The motion asked to join a motion filed by Olivia Pollock, Jonathan’s sister, to dismiss all charges and grant immediate release from jail.
Olivia Pollock’s lawyer filed a motion to Nichols for dismissal and immediate release on Tuesday.
The Pollocks and Hutchinson were the only defendants from Polk County being held in custody while awaiting trials.
In the motion for Hutchinson, the public defender wrote: “The government has represented that it has yet to decide whether to file a motion in his case despite the instructions of the President as they are seeking clarification as to whether the Executive Order covers related charges, i.e., charges for failure to appear. Mr. Hutchinson submits that they are covered and seeks an order of dismissal and immediate release for all of the reasons cited by his codefendant Olivia Pollack (Pollock).”
Olivia Pollock and Hutchinson were released on bond after their arrests in 2021, but they disabled their GPS monitors shortly before their scheduled trials in 2023 and became fugitives, according to the Department of Justice. That led to additional charges of failure to appear in court.
Like Hutchinson and her brother, Olivia Pollock had been facing multiple felony charges, including assaulting or interfering with police officers.
Hutchinson lived in North Lakeland at the time of the U.S. Capitol attack. He had been residing in Georgia in the period before his scheduled trial.
Judge Richard J. Leon granted a motion to dismiss charges against Brian Boele of Lakeland. Boele, 61, had faced counts of civil disorder, a felony, and three misdemeanors.
Judge Amit P. Mehta signed an order dismissing an indictment against Thomas Osborne of Lakeland. A jury convicted Osborne in December on a felony charge of civil disorder and three misdemeanors, including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
Osborne, 41, was due to be sentenced in March.
Prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss the case against Christopher Madison of Winter Haven. Madison, 36, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in early January. He had not yet been sentenced.