863 PDFs and a signed physical CD were filed and accepted on December 27, 2024. The original paper filings were replaced by falsified docket entries under Judge Hurson’s direction. The Case Manager was directed under duress to misdate the entry, though preserved the correct received date. Chief Judge Diaz confirmed Hurson’s responsibility in an uncontested Fourth Circuit order.
Summary
On December 27, 2024, Ryan Dillon-Capps filed 863 PDF documents and a signed physical CD with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland at the Baltimore Division. The Clerk accepted all 97 printed documents for docketing and accepted the signed physical CD as a physical exhibit. The CD was created from a unified digital archive prepared on December 26, 2024, and submitted for two purposes: to preserve embedded metadata and evidentiary integrity, and to serve as the definitive digital source for accurate docketing. The original materials were subsequently transferred to District Judge Brendan A. Hurson, who was the last known person to have custody of the filing. By January 3, 2025, the original documents were no longer present in the court record and had been replaced in PACER by altered docket entries labeled as ECF Nos. 16-0 through 16-15. These entries misstated the date of receipt and omitted portions of the filing. The Case Manager preserved the correct date of receipt—December 27, 2024—in the docket text, despite being directed under duress by Judge Hurson to enter the altered materials as a supplemental filing dated January 3, 2025. On May 27, 2025, Chief Judge Albert Diaz of the Fourth Circuit issued a Memorandum and Order that formally attributed the falsified docket entries and underlying directives to Judge Hurson. Neither the United States Government nor Judge Hurson has contested the factual basis of that adjudication. The unauthorized removal, concealment, destruction, and substitution of official court records—including filings bearing original signatures—constitutes tampering with public and government records, falsification of federal records, obstruction of justice, and multiple violations of federal law and judicial ethics rules.
Related Facts
On December 27, 2024, Ryan Dillon-Capps personally filed 863 PDF documents and a signed physical CD with the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at the Baltimore Division Courthouse located at 101 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. The Clerk accepted all 97 printed PDF documents, and the signed physical CD with all 863 documents. The Clerk acknowledged understanding that the physical CD constitutes a physical exhibit containing hybrid documents—i.e., documents that can be docketed electronically but must be preserved in physical form in order to retain embedded metadata and other materially relevant data.
Fact: 1 | Citation: 503A-fact-1-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
The printed materials and the signed physical CD were prepared from a single archival source: a backup archive titled 'USDM-20241226-2037-READY.zip,' created on December 26, 2024, at 8:37 PM. This archive included approximately 1.6 GB of PDF documents, from which the printed and physical exhibits were generated, along with backup copies for evidentiary preservation.
Fact: 2 | Citation: 503A-fact-2-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
On December 30, 2024, the Case Manager received the case and began efforts to upload copies of the original filing using digital copies from the signed physical CD, because the original paper documents—including those bearing wet ink signatures—had been provided to 'the Judge,' and the scans made by the Court Clerk on December 27, 2024, were missing.
Fact: 3 | Citation: 503A-fact-3-p3 | Pages: 3
On January 3, 2025, the Case Manager uploaded the exhibits that had been held by 'the Judge' and filed in paper format on December 27, 2024, as ECF Nos. 16-0 through 16-15. The docket entry states that the exhibits were Filed (Received) and Entered (PACER) on January 3, 2025, as SUPPLEMENTAL. The Case Manager also included in the docket text that ECF Nos. 16-0 through 16-15 were received on December 27, 2024—reflecting that the Case Manager was under duress when forced to make a false entry.
Fact: 4 | Citation: 503A-fact-4-p3 | Pages: 3
On May 27, 2025, The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (CA4) Chief Judge, Albert Diaz, determine in his Memorandum and Order that: 'the subject judge’s rulings, including his directions to court staff as to how the contents of a CD-ROM should be docketed'. However, there is no order issued or indicated on the Court Record, and no justification has been made on why the District Court Record has been altered. Establishing the following adjudicated facts that are expadned upon in subsequent exhibits—
Fact: 5 | Citation: 503A-fact-5-p2 | Pages: 2
The Case Manager and other 'court staff' were following the 'directions' of District Judge Brendan A. Hurson ('the subject judge')
Fact: 5(a) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(a)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
The Case Manager’s identification of the person in possession of the original Court Record as 'the judge' refers to Brendan A. Hurson
Fact: 5(b) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(b)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Brendan A. Hurson is the last person to have possession of the original filing before the District Court Record was altered—the missing content presumed to have been destroyed
Fact: 5(c) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(c)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Brendan A. Hurson’s 'directions' resulted in falsified government records in PACER, stating that the exhibits docketed as ECF 16-0 through 16-15 were filed and entered on January 3, 2025—not when they were actually received on December 27, 2024
Fact: 5(d) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(d)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Brendan A. Hurson’s 'directions' resulted in the falsification and alteration of government records, including the permanent removal of pages from exhibits docketed as ECF 16-0 through 16-15 from the District Court Record.
Fact: 5(e) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(e)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Brendan A. Hurson’s 'directions' resulted in the falsification and alteration of government records through the permanent removal of original documents—including those bearing wet ink signatures—from the District Court Record.
Fact: 5(f) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(f)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Brendan A. Hurson’s 'directions' resulted in the creation of a hostile work environment by compelling the Case Manager—and potentially others—to violate statutes, court rules, and administrative policies governing the integrity of court records.
Fact: 5(g) | Citation: 503A-fact-5(g)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Furthermore, since the issuance of that Order on May 27, 2025, neither the United States Government nor Brendan A. Hurson has contested this finding—rendering it an undisputed fact, ratified by the judicial branch, and imposing liability on both Hurson and the federal government.
Fact: 6(g) | Citation: 503A-fact-6(g)-p2–23 | Pages: 2–23
Tags
Exhibit: 503A
Pages: 23
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