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Jacob Hiles on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filings).
Jacob Hiles, a man convicted of misdemeanor demonstrating inside of the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and who prosecutors say boasted that morning on social media that he was “feeling cute” and “might start a revolution later”— wants a judge in Virginia to issue a default judgment in his $100 million defamation claim against news outlet CNN.
But in court records reviewed by Law&Crime on Tuesday, the media conglomerate has urged the judge to shut down the “meritless” request, arguing Hiles’ allegations that the outlet did not respond to his request promptly are unfounded.
Hiles, a charter boat captain in Virginia Beach, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of parading, demonstrating or picketing outside of the Capitol in the fall of 2021; he was sentenced that same year to two years probation and community service.
But, as Law&Crime reported last July, Hiles went to court again, this time as a plaintiff suing CNN for defamation.
At the time, he was asking for $37 million, alleging he was defamed in an October 2021 article published by the outlet about former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Michael Angelo Riley. Riley was charged with obstruction of justice for sending messages to Hiles, according to prosecutors.
Hiles said he was defamed because CNN used a headline in its story that “claimed he wanted to start a revolution” and this improperly associated him with “felonious criminal activity of which he was not charged or convicted, either directly or indirectly,” court records show.
He amended the requested amount of $37 million to $100 million in August.
In the request for a default judgment filed on Jan. 19, attorneys for Hiles claimed CNN had missed filing deadlines and effectively left him in the dark about the case.
But lawyers for the news outlet responded Monday, saying “CNN has no history of dilatory action in this case.”
“To the contrary, it is Hiles who (1) waited until one day before the expiration of the statute of limitations to file this lawsuit; (2) waited another 8 months after filing the lawsuit to serve CNN; and (3) waited more than 100 days after the date on which he claims CNN was required to notice its motion to raise this issue,” a response from lawyers for the news outlet wrote in a reply filed Monday and obtained by Law&Crime.
Jacob Hiles. Courtesy Department of Justice.
The outlet also noted that its request this August to dismiss the defamation claim outright is still pending.
Hiles says the outlet has failed to comply with local rules and did not set a motion hearing in a timely fashion nor did the outlet’s lawyers meet with him to discuss ways they could move ahead. CNN contests this, and further claims that even if a judge were to issue a default judgment against them, the court should set that ruling aside given the “strong deference” and ultimately, preference, courts have to resolve cases on their merits instead of just letting them expire haphazardly.
Newsweek reported on Tuesday that a spokesperson for CNN said they had attempted to speak to Hiles’ attorneys multiple times but received no response before he filed his motion for default judgment.
Hiles’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
