ABC's Andy Filed April 16, 2021 KRDO's Afternoon News

A heavy metal guitarist has become the first defendant to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.  Jon Ryan Schaffer, the frontman of the band Iced Earth, has agreed to cooperate with investigators in hopes of getting a lighter sentence, and the Justice Department will consider putting Schaffer in the federal witness security program.  This signals that federal prosecutors see him as a valuable cooperator as they continue to investigate the militia groups and other extremists involved in the insurrection on Jan. 6.