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WASHINGTON â A Tennessee man photographed inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 wearing tactical gear and carrying plastic zip tie handcuffs will be held in jail while his criminal case goes forward, a federal judge in Washington ruled on Wednesday.
In a 17-page opinion, US District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, DC, agreed with federal prosecutors that there were no conditions of release for Eric Munchel and his co-defendant and mother Lisa Eisenhart that would âreasonably ensure the safety of the community.â Munchel and Eisenhart pose âa clear danger to our republic,â the judge concluded.
âGiven Munchel’s brazen actions in front of hundreds of law enforcement officers and manifest disrespect for the rule of law, the Court is not satisfied that Munchel would comply with any release conditions,â Lamberth wrote. âMunchel has indicated that he would be willing to act against Congress again, and nothing short of pretrial detention can prevent him from doing so.â
The judge described Eisenhart as âa self-avowed, would-be martyr,â noting that after the riot she gave a media interview where she said that she would ârather die as a 57-year-old woman than live under oppressionâ and âwould rather fight.â Lamberth wrote that this was evidence that Eisenhart, like Munchel, was willing to ârepeat her behaviorâ if allowed to go home.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for Munchel and Eisenhart had argued before Lamberth that because their clients werenât charged with assaulting anyone or destroying property, that undermined the governmentâs argument that they were a danger to the community. But Lamberth wrote that the âportrayal of the alleged offenses as mere trespassing or civil disobedience is both unpersuasive and detached from reality.â
âStorming the Capitol to disrupt the counting of electoral votes is not the akin to a peaceful sit-in,â the judge wrote.
The vast majority of the 200-plus people charged with participating in the insurrection have been allowed to go home while their cases are pending without objection from prosecutors. Judges in these cases typically have imposed travel restrictions and some defendants are on home detention. In a small number of cases, prosecutors have argued for pretrial detention on the grounds that defendants pose a danger to the community or a flight risk; theyâve tended to reserve those requests for cases that involve people accused of assaulting police officers, carrying weapons, planning for violence in advance, or taking any kind of leadership role in the assault on the Capitol.
Munchel was arrested in Tennessee on Jan. 10, four days after the insurrection at the Capitol; Eisenhart was arrested on Jan. 16. Both made their initial court appearances in Tennessee where the government unsuccessfully asked a federal magistrate judge to keep them in custody. Prosecutors raced to the federal court in Washington â where all of the Capitol cases are ultimately being prosecuted â to appeal Munchel and Eisenhartâs release, and a judge agreed to temporarily hold them in jail pending another round of review of the detention issue.
On Feb. 12, a federal grand jury returned an indictment that charged them jointly with three felony counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, entering a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and engaging in violent entry or disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon. According to prosecutors, Munchel was carrying a Taser when he entered the Capitol, and he and Eisenhart could be heard in a video that Munchel recorded that day discussing stashing other weapons outside the Capitol; theyâre also accused of picking up US Capitol Police plastic zip tie handcuffs, known as âflexicuffs,â inside the building.
The governmentâs court papers describe how Munchelâs video captures him and Eisenhart urging on other rioters and helping people climb over a wall in front of the Capitol. At one point, prosecutors say an unidentified person can be heard telling Munchel and Eisenhart as they approach the Capitol, âYou guys look like yâall ready to go,â and Munchel replying, âFucking ready to fuck shit up.â
Prosecutors also noted in the detention memo that when Munchel and Eisenhart came across an unidentified person handing out the flexicuffs from a cabinet, Munchel could be heard in his video saying, âZip ties! I need to get me some of them motherfuckers.â Prosecutors described the two as part of a mob searching for members of Congress, and argued Munchel grabbed the handcuffs âcomprehending that they are instruments of restraint and kidnapping.â
Lamberth heard arguments on Wednesday. Assistant US Attorney Ahmed Baset began his presentation by saying that Munchel and Eisenhart arrived at the Capitol wearing âfull combat gearâ â Munchel in military fatigues, a tactical vest, and face covering that showed only his eyes, and Eisenhart in a tactical vest. Baset argued that Munchel and Eisenhart not only picked up the plastic handcuffs, but did so âwith glee.â Baset also said that Munchel and Eisenhart hadnât shown remorse after the riot, and he told Lamberth that the government had texts sent via the secure messaging app Signal after Jan. 6 that appeared to show Munchel expressing interest in joining the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group that has described its members as âWestern chauvinists.â
Munchel and Eisenhart are charged together, but have their own lawyers. Munchelâs attorney Sandra Roland argued on Wednesday that the fact that Munchel made arrangements to self-surrender and turn over evidence from his phone showed he wasnât a flight risk, and noted he didnât have a history of violence. Both she and Eisenhartâs attorney Gregory Smith focused on the fact that neither defendant was charged with hurting anyone or destroying property, and asked Lamberth to adopt the Tennessee judgeâs order releasing the two to home confinement.
âHe did not engage in violence. He did not threaten violence. He did not encourage anyone else to engage in violence,â Roland said of Munchel.
Roland argued that Munchel had come to Washington to protest and send a âmessage,â an argument that prompted Lamberth to jump in and press her to explain why Munchel had picked up the plastic handcuffs once he was inside the Capitol.
âThat sends a message, too, doesnât it?â the judge asked.
Roland argued that the government hadnât presented evidence about what Munchelâs intent was in carrying the handcuffs, and that, in the end, he didnât use them.
âLuckily,â Lamberth quipped in response.
Smith accused prosecutors of overselling the evidence of what Munchel and Eisenhart did during the roughly 10 minutes that they were inside the Capitol; he said the Tennessee judge hadnât agreed that the government supported a claim that Eisenhart chased police officers. He also argued that Lamberth should focus on whether Eisenhart, who didnât have a previous criminal record, posed a risk to the community going forward, and not on what happened on Jan. 6.
What did the government fear Eisenhart would do, Smith asked, ânow that Donald Trump is no longer in office, now that the electoral vote has been confirmed, now that thereâs a fence around the Capitol?â
Baset responded to Smith by arguing that the âconditionsâ that led to the violent assault on the Capitol were âstill ever present,â pointing to the National Guardâs presence in Washington and threat assessments related to potential demonstrations in early March. Baset didnât elaborate on the threat assessments, but Newsweek reported this week that law enforcement officials are monitoring potential activity around March 4, a date of significance for followers of the collective delusion QAnon. He argued that the âextraordinary circumstancesâ of these cases warranted pretrial detention, saying that Munchel and Eisenhart âfelt entitledâ to walk into the Capitol while Congress was in session, and that they were âdressed for combat, dressed for violence.â
Munchelâs lawyer noted that he could be heard in a video admonishing other people inside the Capitol to not break anything. Baset argued that giving weight to that argument would be like giving a burglar credit for not breaking a vase.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates and follow BuzzFeed News on Twitter.â
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