Record at a Glance
- Category
- Jan 6th
- Age in NPR record
- 20
- Location
- Puyallup, Washington
- Charges
- Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers; Civil Disorder; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings
- Case status
- Pleaded not guilty; Dismissed in part or full
Case Summary
Video footage from YouTube shows Caden Paul Gottfried pushing to the front of protest lines near a tunnel entrance into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an FBI statement of facts. Gottfried faced the crowd and used his bodyweight to push his back against the line of officers guarding the tunnel, the documents claim. Officers then pulled Gottfried into the tunnel and detained him for about three hours. The following day, Gottfried and his stepfather Richard Slaughter were involved in “an inflight incident … related to mask non-compliance and protesting the results of the 2020 election” while returning home to Washington state on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to court documents. Both Gottfried and Slaughter were arrested Oct. 12, 2022, in Tacoma, Wash.
Case History
Gottfried pleaded Not Guilty to all charges. Bench trial held and verdict set for 1/28/2025. On 1/21/2025, the court grants the government's motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Sources
- Primary Documentation
NPR Jan. 6 Defendant DatabaseNPR - Primary Documentation
Underlying court recordCourt record linked by NPR
Case summary, charges, procedural updates and image are drawn from the NPR Jan. 6 archive snapshot dated 2026-09-25 unless otherwise indicated.