A Texas-based researcher has filed a pair of lawsuits against lawyers who represented defendants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, alleging some of the attorneys “pirated” her research and used it in court — without paying for it.
The lawsuit, filed by Lindsey Olson, alleges the defense attorneys infringed on the copyright on her research studies, when they made filings in court seeking a change of venue for Capitol riot defendants.
Olson’s research firm produced a 26-page study in April 2022 for a defense lawyer in a Jan. 6 Oathkeepers case to argue for a change of venue out of Washington, D.C. Among the many findings in Olson’s survey, respondents in Washington, D.C. were likely to characterize Jan. 6 as an “insurrection,” “racially motivated” or “planned in advance” than prospective jurors in other regions of the country. The survey also argued the jury pool in Washington, D.C. was more likely to feel “personally” affected or less safe, because of the Capitol siege by the mob of Trump supporters.
Dozens of Jan. 6 defendants sought a change-of-venue, several using Olson’s research study in their arguments. None of them succeeded in their arguments. But Olson’s lawsuits allege some defense attorneys used her study in court, without paying her a fee for her service or the rights to use her material.
James Bartolomei, a civil attorney representing Olson in her lawsuits, told CBS News, “Each lawyer exploited the entire written report for the very same purpose that she created it, which was for use in support of a motion to transfer venue out of DC. The report has a fair market value of $30,000 per case.”
One of Olson’s lawsuits alleged Virginia-based defense attorney Kira West “pirated a copyrighted expert report and used that report in three separate criminal cases for the very purpose the report was originally created.” A CBS News review found Olson’s research was included in court motions filed by West in multiple cases, including her defense of Alex Harkrider, who was accused of carrying a tomahawk axe while amid the mob. He was found guilty in 2024 of felony charges of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Harkrider, along with more than 1,500 other Jan. 6 defendants, was pardoned by President Trump on Inauguration Day 2025.
West declined to comment to CBS News.
Olson has filed a separate lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging federal public defenders also misappropriated her jury research while defending Jan. 6 defendants. She alleges federal defenders published her report, in its entirety, at least 11 separate times. The suit alleges Olson “was unaware of the government’s unauthorized use until she stumbled upon a copy of her report with a file stamp of multiple illegible case numbers stamped on top” of other case numbers.”
Olson’s lawsuit against the Trump administration argues, “The Government, through the public defenders alleged above, directly benefitted financially from copyright infringement of the April 2022 Report by not paying Plaintiff a reasonable fair market value licensing fee for each use of the Report, which is $30,000 per use.”
The lawsuit said, “In exchange for a $30,000 fee, Plaintiff licensed a copy of the Report to the Requesting Attorneys, authorizing them to use it in support of their motions to transfer venue based on alleged prejudicial bias in the District of Columbia’s jury pool.”
Judges universally denied requests by Capitol riot defendants to transfer their cases to other federal districts in America, despite repeated claims that jurors would be biased in the District of Columbia, due to media coverage and personal connections to victims of the attack.
In a statement to CBS News through her attorney, Olson said, “if everyone stole authors’ work all the time, there would eventually be none made at all. Everyone understands that would be wrong.”
Some judges derided the change-of-venue requests and arguments. A CBS News review of Jan. 6 case hearings found in April 2024, a federal judge denied such a request from a riot defendant and remarked that “while there has certainly been significant media coverage of Jan. 6, much of it has consisted only of straightforward, unemotional factual accounts of events.” In July 2023, federal judge Rudolph Contreras rejected another riot defendant’s request and ruled, “a fair trial is possible even where that impact is a result of particularly heinous crimes.”
Some high-ranking U.S. Justice Department officials previously worked as Jan. 6 defense attorneys.
Stanley Woodward, who serves as associate U.S. Attorney General, was also a prominent Jan. 6 defense attorney. A CBS News review found Woodward was a co-counsel along with Kira West, on at least one Jan. 6 case.