Counsel evaluating my case — start here.
I'm a pardoned January 6 defendant — federal charges dismissed with prejudice, cannot be refiled. I am now defending an active matter in Harrison County, Texas, currently pro se and seeking representation. I am not waiving counsel. The live legal issues are below, each tied to a motion I have already filed and published.
- Posture
- Active · pro se
- Venue
- Harrison County, TX
- Prior matter
- Pardoned · dismissed w/ prejudice
- Motions filed
- 11 + recusal, public
Live legal issues · with the filed motion
First Amendment / bond conditions
Speech & publication restrictions challenged as overbroad prior restraint (Packingham, Near, Davenport).
Brady & Article 39.14 discovery
Demand for bodycam, CAD, dispatch, and officer notes through criminal discovery.
Bodycam preservation & release
Emergency motion to preserve and produce the recording said to settle the church allegation.
Right to counsel — no waiver
Pro se filings do not waive counsel; appointment sought (Gideon, Argersinger, Rothgery).
Recusal
Motion to recuse, with supporting exhibits, filed in the current matter.
Protective order
Against documented online threats and the escalating rumor narrative.
Attorneys — reach me directly
If you practice criminal defense, First Amendment, or civil-rights litigation and want the full private briefing, contact me. I can send the complete packet — motions, declarations, exhibit index, and the case-specific details that aren't on this public page.
This page is public; it states only already-public facts and links to motions I have already filed. Case-specific posture and strategy are shared privately with counsel.
Verified subject · United States v. Nichols
Ryan Taylor Nichols
Pardoned January 6 defendant · U.S. Marine Corps veteran · Search-and-Rescue specialist · Independent investigative journalist
United States Marine Corps veteran, founder of Wholesale Universe, Inc. — a multi-million-dollar wholesale and retail company — and a Texas Search and Rescue specialist. Husband and father. Charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021 and held in pretrial detention across ten facilities, where a federal judge acknowledged on the record that his due-process rights had been violated. Fully pardoned by President Trump on January 20, 2025, with every charge dismissed with prejudice. Today he reports on his own case — and the weaponization of the justice system — as an independent investigative journalist, in public and in full.
Stand with Ryan — tap to react, no signup.
The case file
On the record
- Case number
- 1:21-cr-117
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Disposition
- Arrested January 18, 2021 in the Eastern District of Texas. Indicted February 12, 2021; arraigned April 26, 2021, pleaded not guilty to all counts. Held in pretrial detention across ten federal and local facilities. Granted a full and unconditional pardon by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025. All charges dismissed with prejudice by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. — the case cannot be brought again.
- Arrested
- January 18, 2021
Charges
- Civil Disorder
- Obstruction of an Official Proceeding
- Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon
- Theft of Government Property
- Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
- Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds with a Deadly or Dangerous Weapon
- Unlawful Possession of a Dangerous Weapon on Capitol Grounds or Buildings
- Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building
- Act of Physical Violence in the Capitol Grounds or Buildings
- Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building
The case · start to finish
Arrested to exonerated.
- Jan 18, 2021
Arrested
Taken into custody in the Eastern District of Texas.
- Feb 12, 2021
Indicted
Charged with ten counts tied to January 6.
- Apr 26, 2021
Arraigned
Pleaded not guilty to all counts.
- Dec 2021
Due process violated — on the record
A federal judge acknowledged from the bench that his due-process rights had been violated. He was held across ten federal and local facilities anyway.
- Jan 20, 2025
Fully pardoned
Granted a full and unconditional pardon by President Trump.
- 2025
Dismissed with prejudice
Every charge dismissed with prejudice by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. — the case can never be brought again.
Before the case · the man behind the file
Two decades running toward the disaster.
Long before he was a case number, Ryan was the man wading into floodwater to pull strangers out. A U.S. Marine, then a civilian search-and-rescue volunteer across more than two dozen hurricane deployments.
Service record · USMC 2010–2014
United States Marine Corps
- Enlisted
- 2010 — during two wars
- Discharge
- 2014 — Honorable
- Rank
- Noncommissioned Officer
- Okinawa, Japan
- 9th Communications Battalion
- Camp Pendleton
- 2nd Bn, 1st Marines
- Led
- 30+ Marines · ASF security
Decorations
Search & rescue · the operations log
Two dozen-plus deployments. A partial record.
- 2005
Hurricane Katrina
His first rescue — at age 13.
- 2012
Okinawa typhoons
On the ground for four typhoons while serving in the Marines — most notably Super Typhoon Jelawat.
- 2017
Hurricane Harvey
His first hurricane as a civilian. Raised $30,000+ in supplies — a boat, motor, diapers, food, formula, water — for families in dire straits.
- 2018
Hurricane Florence
Drove 2,000+ miles and led water rescues for dozens of women, infants, elderly, disabled, and animals.
- 2018
Hurricane Michael
Worked alongside the U.S. Coast Guard on Med-Evac helicopter rescues in Panama City; search-and-rescue for an eight-months-pregnant woman whose home had collapsed on top of her.
- 2019
Hurricane Barry
Teamed with Cajun Navy 2016 in Jeanerette, Louisiana.
- 2019
Hurricane Dorian
Cleared roads for first responders across the Carolinas.
- 2019
Tropical Storm Imelda
High-water horse rescue in Vidor, Texas; rescued an elderly bedridden man and his disabled family.
- 2020
Tropical Storm Cristobal
Louisiana & Biloxi. Among the first on scene when a missing couple was found after 24 hours; rescued 20–30+ from flooded roads.
- 2020
Hurricanes Arthur & Hanna
Pulled people and vehicles from ditches as the eyewall hit.
- 2020
Hurricane Laura
Welfare checks and cleanup; reconnected distraught mothers with their stranded children.
- 2020
Hurricane Sally
Foley, Alabama — rescued 50+ people in a single day on video. Many were babies, children, and elderly. Removed a near-death man from a collapsed building.
Recognized for the rescues
Ellen DeGeneres recognized his Hurricane Florence rescues on The Ellen Show — sponsoring Rescue the Universe with a new rescue boat and donating $25,000 to the Animal Humane Society in his honor.
What he's fighting for now
Out the other side — and on offense.
East Texas
Water Rights
Whether your well runs, your cattle drink, and your kids' kids can still work the land your family has worked for generations.
Free speech
The First Amendment
The one right that lets you speak when the powerful would rather you didn't — the whole ballgame.
Property
Land Rights
The inheritance you leave, the independence you keep — the one thing the powerful can't easily take from a working family.
Your paycheck
Tax Fairness
Whether the people who frame the houses, drive the trucks, and run the small shops get to keep what they earn.
Two-tier no more
Equal Justice Under the Law
The difference between a republic and a regime — whether the law is the same for everyone, or bends to whose side you're on.
On the record now
He didn't go quiet. He built a newsroom.
Ryan reports on his own case — and the weaponization of the justice system — as an independent investigative journalist. The latest:
I Was Warned That Law Enforcement Wants to Hurt Me. Harrison County — Answer for This.
This Is Weaponization. And I Will Not Be Silenced.
They Kept Me in a Holding Cell for a Day. I Had to Go on Hunger Strike to Be Treated Like a Human.
They Put Me in a Cell for Speaking. Here's What Harrison County Just Did.
I Said Someone's Name in a Facebook Video. Harrison County Charged Me With Harassment.
Release Every Frame of January 6
Evidence on file
The documents that name him directly
A sample pulled to this profile. His name runs through the whole case file — 1,044 documents and 34 documented grievances across 10 facilities. Walk the full record →
Ryan1 document
Ryan Nichols' own paperwork — grievances, motions, letters, cell notes.
photo · Jan 1, 2022
Ryan in the DC Jail
Court1 document
Court orders, rulings, transcripts, and docket entries.
transcript · Dec 1, 2021
Bond Hearing Transcript Excerpt — Judge Hogan acknowledges due process violation (Dec 2021)
The full record
Everything is public. Walk it yourself.
Nothing here sits behind a paywall or a login. Every grievance, every document, every name — open, sourced, and laid out to be checked.
The case hub
Start here — the whole file, organized
Timeline
Arrest to pardon, day by day
Grievances
34 documented, with the paperwork
Documents
1,044 scans on the record
Co-detainees & witnesses
22 who corroborate the record
Officials named
Who did what, on the record
Geography
The 10 facilities he moved through
Damages
What four years of this cost
Full biography
Exhibit 288, in his words
Stand with him
He kept the receipts. Help keep them public.
Keeping this record up — the filings, the scans, the names — costs money and takes nerve. Two ways to help right now: back the rebuild, or put this page in front of one more person.