'One Toke Over The Line': Judge Denies Pot-Loving Capitol Rioter's Holiday Travel Request

A judge has denied the travel plans of a Capitol rioter who smoked marijuana in the rotunda on Jan. 6, writing that the defendant’s request to go overseas for the holidays before his sentencing in early January was “one toke over the line.”

Eduardo Nicolas Alvear Gonzalez, known online as the “Capitol Rotunda Doobie Smoker,” pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol in September. In his statement of offense, Gonzalez admitted that he “smoked marijuana in the Rotunda and distributed marijuana to other individuals unlawfully inside the Capitol building.” 

In a filing last week, Gonzalez’s court-appointed attorney wrote that his client “has been invited by a friend to spend the Holiday Season, at no cost in London, England” and that it was “an opportunity that doesn’t present itself very often.”

Although Judge Christopher R. Cooper responded that he appreciated Gonzalez’s “desire to broaden his horizons,” he denied the request on Monday.

“Defendant Eduardo Nicolas Alvear Gonzalez has pled guilty to unlawfully parading inside the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. While there, Gonzalez recorded himself smoking marijuana and sharing it with others. He is awaiting sentencing subject to certain conditions of release, including that he not travel internationally,” Cooper wrote. “Appreciating Defendant’s desire to broaden his horizons but finding the request one toke over the line, the Court hereby DENIES the motion.”

Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 5, just shy of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol attack. The federal government has not yet said what sentence it will seek in the case, but other Capitol defendants who pleaded guilty to the same charge have received sentences ranging from probation to 60 days of incarceration  in the case of a defendant who citing her white skin and blond hair tweeted that she was “definitely not going to prison .”

The FBI has made more than 650 arrests in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, roughly one-fourth of the total number of potential defendants believed to have committed chargeable crimes that day. The FBI is seeking more than 350 rioters who committed violent acts, including more than 250 who assaulted police officers on Jan. 6 and are still at large.