Federal prosecutors said this image shows Carlos Ayala on the Upper West Terrace at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. They dropped the case against Ayala after President Donald Trump pardoned more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendant Monday. (Photo from screenshot of court documents)
A former state board of elections member charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection will not stand trial, following a blanket pardon issued Monday by President Donald Trump.
Federal prosecutors Tuesday filed a motion to dismiss charges against Carlos Ayala in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Their two-paragraph motion cites “the Executive Order dated January 20, 2025, Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at Or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, as the reason for this dismissal.”
The motion to dismiss comes a day after Trump issued pardons for 1,500 people charged with or convicted of crimes related to storming the U.S. Capitol as part of a mob whipped into a frenzy by Trump and his false claims that the election has been stolen from him.
They marched on the U.S. Capitol and mounted a violent assault as the House and Senate met to ratify the results of the 2020 election in which Joseph Biden defeated then-President Trump, the Republican incumbent. Trump has since attempted to rebrand the incident as a day of love.
Ayala, 53, was arrested in January 2024 in connection with the assault. In a 13-page indictment, Ayala was charged with civil disorder, a felony and related misdemeanor offenses.
Trump issues pardons for 1,500 defendants charged in Jan. 6 attack on U.S. Capitol
The indictment identified Ayala as being part of a group of rioters illegally gathered on restricted Capitol grounds near the scaffolding erected for the Jan. 20, 2021, inauguration of Biden, who was president-elect at the time. Federal officials said Ayala wore a sweatshirt hood cinched tightly around his head, a gray 3M-style painter’s mask with large filters on each cheek, and, at times, carried a distinctive black-and-white flag affixed to a PVC pipe flagpole bearing the words “We the People” and “DEFEND.”
The flag included an image of an M-16-style rifle.
Additionally, prosecutors said Ayala was seen on video footage climbing over police barricades to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol as rioters overran the police lines on the stairs adjacent to the scaffolding. Ayala allegedly then moved to the front of the crowd gathered outside a door on the Senate side of the Capitol. Security footage from inside the Capitol, near the Senate side door, appears to show Ayala waving his flag inside one of the windows next to the door.
A U.S. Capitol Police officer attempted to motion Ayala away from the window. Prosecutors alleged Ayala ignored the warning and moved to an opening in the Senate wing that had been breached by rioters.
Video footage from inside the Capitol building showed a rioter positioned to the right side of the Senate wing door — the same area where Ayala was present. That rioter could be seen jabbing with a flag and flagpole at an officer.
The flag matched the description of Ayala’s flag, according to court records.
Police body camera footage also allegedly showed Ayala pacing in front of a line of officers yelling, “Join us!”
As a result of the indictment, Ayala resigned from his post on the Maryland State Board of Elections. The resignation also led to calls for reforming how board members are selected and in stricter scrutiny from the Senate committee that reviews those nominations.