Pardoned Jan. 6 Rioter Shot Dead by Police After Allegedly Resisting Arrest

Photo of Matthew Huttle via Department of Justice.

An Indiana man who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his conviction related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was fatally shot by a police officer after allegedly resisting arrest during a traffic stop Sunday afternoon, according to local news reports.

Matthew W. Huttle, a 42-year-old resident of Hobart, was driving his car on State Road 14 when he was pulled over by a deputy with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department around 4:15 pm on January 26, reported Indianapolis’ NBC affiliate WHTR News 13. Jasper County is about 100 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

A spokesperson for the Indiana State Police told reporters that the incident occurred after the deputy attempted to arrest Huttle, and “an altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect.”

State police investigators told Fox 59 Indianapolis that police discovered Huttle was in possession of a firearm during the traffic stop, but have not revealed why Huttle was being arrested or provided other details about the altercation between him and the deputy.

Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson released a statement announcing an investigation, which will be submitted to the Jasper County Prosecutor’s Office for review:

“For full transparency, I requested the Indiana State Police to investigate this officer-involved shooting. The officer who is involved has been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol and is our policy in these situations. Our condolences go out to the family of the deceased as any loss of life is traumatic to those that were close to Mr. Huttle. I will release the officer’s name once I have approval from the State Police Detectives.”

Huttle, along with his uncle Dale Huttle, were included in the hundreds of rioters who received pardons or commutations of their sentences from Trump in the first few hours of his presidency.

Department of Justice press releases describe how the uncle and nephew traveled together from Indiana to attend the rally held at the Ellipse and “afterward joined the crowd and marched to the U.S. Capitol building,” where they both illegally entered, with the elder Huttle “carrying a long flagpole with an upside-down American flag attached” that he later used as he was “forcibly jabbing” multiple police officers, among other violent assaults. During these altercations, Matthew Huttle entered the Capitol building through a Senate side entrance. Both Huttles remained on Capitol grounds until after 5:00 pm that day.

Dale Huttle was arrested in Crown Point, Indiana on November 9, 2022, indicted on multiple charges including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder, and other related felony and misdemeanor offenses. In an interview after his arrest, Dale Huttle declared, “I’m not ashamed of being there. It was our duty as patriots,” and called himself “the ultimate patriot because I put myself on the line to defend the country. And I have, I have no regrets. I will not say I’m sorry.”

Photo of Dale Huttle via Department of Justice.

In court, Dale Huttle said that he and his nephew were separated due to the “chaos” of the riot. He pled guilty to one felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,639 in restitution.

Meanwhile, Matthew Huttle was arrested in Boise, Idaho a few weeks after his uncle was taken into custody. He was charged with misdemeanor offenses, sentenced to six months in federal prison and 12 months of supervised release, according to Fox 59. He was released on July 17, 2024, and may have still been under the terms of his supervised release.

Matthew Huttle is not the first of the January 6 rioters whose presidential grant of freedom was short-lived. A Florida man, 39-year-old Daniel Charles Ball, was being held in a Washington, D.C. federal jail after being indicted of multiple felonies for assaulting police officers and setting off an explosive device during the riot. After he was pardoned by Trump, he was arrested just one day later for federal gun charges. To a lesser degree, Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, was serving an 18-year sentence after being convicted of seditious conspiracy, but was freed when Trump commuted his sentence. After Rhodes was seen visiting with Republican lawmakers and holding court with reporters in the Capitol, the judge overseeing his case imposed new travel restrictions barring him and several other newly freed Oath Keepers from the Capitol grounds and Washington, D.C. without court permission. (Update: Monday afternoon, that judge reversed the travel restrictions after objections from Trump appointees in the DOJ, but maintained that other supervised release conditions remained “intact.”)