A federal court choose in Washington, D.C. on Thursday rejected a Jan. 6 defendant’s ask for to acquire a winter vacation in Jamaica with his girlfriend.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell observed that the defendant, Anthony Robert Williams, filed the ask for on the just one-yr anniversary of the assault on the Capitol.
“Defendant, although on pretrial release and dealing with prices which includes a really serious felony offense, stemming from his alleged actions on January 6, 2021, needs to leave the Michigan wintertime to commit ten times in the warmer climes of Jamaica to meet up with the family members of a lady with whom defendant has been in a committed partnership for ‘more than a year,'” Howell wrote in a ruling, capturing down the ask for on the exact same day it was submitted.
“Even though these a conference may possibly be an vital action in defendant’s particular partnership, defendant surrendered his entitlement to unfettered international travel when, also ‘more than a year’ in the past, on December 30, 2020, he allegedly announced his intent to ‘Storm the Swamp,’ and 1 week later on, on January 6, 2021, adopted via by signing up for a mob at the Capitol,” the decide wrote.
Howell noted that Williams — who, in accordance to prosecutors, explained himself as an “Operation Swamp Storm Veteran” right after the riot — allegedly known as his participation in the celebration the “proudest day of [his] daily life.”
Williams’ lawyer, Benton Martin, declined to remark on the ruling.
Williams was arrested in March after the FBI got a tip on the web that he experienced bragged about currently being a single of the rioters and posted, just before later on deleting, pics and video of himself at the Capitol, prosecutors stated.
The FBI mentioned it recovered the videos, which include a person where he spoke about acquiring “stormed” the Capitol and “pushed back the cops.”
He’s billed with obstruction of an formal continuing, coming into and remaining in a limited developing, disorderly conduct in a limited making and the Capitol Setting up, as effectively as parading or demonstrating in a capitol making.
Williams has pleaded not guilty. The court docket docket implies he is been negotiating a plea offer.
His vacation request mentioned his girlfriend’s family members resides in Negril, Jamaica, and “Mr. Williams is requesting permission to check out Jamaica to meet her household from January 31, 2022, to February 10, 2022.”
“This Courtroom will not commemorate the just one-12 months anniversary of this attack on the Capitol by granting defendant’s ask for for non-vital international travel when he is awaiting judgment for his steps on that day,” Howell concluded in the ruling.
