A Florida man photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot is blasting what he calls “double standards” after the former Justice Department prosecutor who demanded strict bail terms for him was arrested in a road rage stabbing outside Tampa.
Patrick Scruggs, who spent a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting federal crimes, wound up jailed himself this week when he allegedly stabbed a man multiple times after a three-car crash on the Howard Frankland Bridge, west of Tampa, during Tuesday’s morning rush hour.
“I hope the victim of this stabbing is recovering well and will not have any long term health issues as a result of the violent assault,” Adam Johnson, who calls himself “The Lectern Guy” wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
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This eyewitness photo provided by FOX 13 Tampa allegedly shows Patrick Scruggs moments after a road rage stabbing on the Howard Frankland Bridge. The image has been censored where blood was visible on the victim’s hands and forearms. (Courtesy of Tara Iglinski via FOX 13 Tampa)
Johnson noted that Scruggs is innocent until proven guilty. And so was Johnson, although he argues he was denied that presumption under the bail conditions the former prosecutor had requested at the time.
“What I will speak on are the double standards of the bail conditions,” he told Fox News Digital. “Mr. Scruggs has been accused of aggravated battery, aggravated assault and armed burglary — all of which are felonies. Mr. Scruggs posted bail within 24 hours of his arrest and was given no additional conditions for his release even though he is clearly a threat to his community.”
After Johnson spent a night in jail in 2021, he said he was ordered on Scruggs’ request to the court to surrender his passport and legal guns in addition to being subjected to a curfew, travel restrictions, GPS monitoring and random drug testing.
While Johnson has finished his federal sentence of 75 days behind bars and a year of probation, he’s still dealing with the aftermath of serious charges he faced after posing in a viral photo that sealed his fate in court.
Adam Johnson carries the lectern of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi through the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol Building after a pro-Trump mob stormed the building Jan. 6, 2021. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“I’m still being denied readmission into USF, and my gun rights have been violated repeatedly at a state and federal level, though,” he told Fox News Digital, referring to the University of South Florida. “I might be done, but they are not done with me.”
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Johnson said he had one semester remaining for his bachelor’s degree when he took a break to raise his young children.
Despite being in good academic standing with a 3.7 GPA, he said, he was denied when he applied to return because he was on probation.
Now, he’s done with probation, but he still hasn’t been readmitted, he said.
“It is blatantly clear to see that justice is no longer a double-edged sword, but a blunt instrument used by an authoritative regime,” Johnson said.
Former federal prosecutor Patrick Scruggs, 38, is accused of stabbing another man in a road rage fight on a bridge outside Tampa earlier this week. The attorney recently left the DOJ, where he had prosecuted Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspects, for a private practice. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office)
Even before he pleaded guilty to the Jan. 6 charges, he said, Scruggs sought aggressive terms for his pretrial release before the case moved from a federal court in Florida to Washington, D.C., where it was handled by a different prosecutor.
“My crimes were so egregious that he demanded I wear an ankle monitor, be drug tested at random, surrender my passports, be restricted to middle district of Florida and given a nightly curfew,” he said, noting the allegations against him were not violent and did not include drugs.
“Under Florida state law, as opposed to federal law, every person is entitled to be released pending trial unless they are arrested on a capital offense with overwhelming evidence,” Scruggs’ attorney, John Nohlgren, told Fox News Digital.
His client has been charged with aggravated assault and battery and armed burglary, none of which are capital offenses, the lawyer noted.
“There are a few other circumstances wherein a person could be held without bond, but none of those circumstances apply to Mr. Scruggs,” he said.
“The bond amounts set in his case were consistent with the uniform bond schedule set forth by the Pinellas County Circuit Court. These bonds are set in many cases of this nature, especially for a person with no prior criminal history. Mr. Scruggs did what any other person would do in his situation by posting the bond amounts set by the authorities. We are actively cooperating with the state attorney in Pinellas County on several issues, including establishing the conditions of his release.”
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Nohlgren said earlier this week that the three-car crash that preceded the altercation was not caused by his client.
“There is much more to this incident than what is being reported, and we are diligently working to bring to light the full facts of what occurred,” he said.
