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Judges reject defendants’ Jan. 6 requests to attend Trump’s inauguration

Judges reject defendants’ Jan. 6 requests to attend Trump’s inauguration

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WASHINGTON – As he fights multiple felony charges for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers on January 6, 2021, Tommy Tatum of Mississippi hoped to attend donald trump‘s opening at the end of this month.

Prosecutors resisted that request, arguing that Tatum could end up face to face with the officers he accuses of attacking.

A federal judge agreed that Tatum poses a potential threat, one of several recent rulings by judges who barred the Jan. 6 defendants from events celebrating Trump’s return to office.

“Tatum’s alleged conduct was particularly violent,” U.S. District Judge John Bates wrote of the need to continue restricting Tatum’s travel to the nation’s capital while he awaits trial.

The nearly 1,600 people charged with crimes related to the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol are counting on Trump to fulfill his I promise to forgive at least some of them..

Meanwhile, some have had mixed success in getting judges to allow them to attend Trump’s inauguration.

Defendant facing misdemeanors allowed to attend inauguration

Eric Lee Peterson, charged with disorderly conduct and disruptive conduct, asked to travel from Kansas City, Missouri, to see Trump take the oath of office. His attorneys said he is a business owner and military veteran with no criminal record before the Jan. 6 case. .

Peterson faces misdemeanors for entering the Capitol and has said he was unaware at the time of the violent protests and property damage.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan approved their request last month.

But other defendants with more serious charges are being kept away.

Lawyers for Christopher Belliveau of Sanford, Maine, argued that he is presumed innocent pending trial, and that the fact that he was charged “does not suggest that he is inherently more dangerous than anyone else.” His lawyers called him a respected businessman with no history of violence or vandalism, and said his conduct while awaiting trial has been “exemplary.”

But U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly noted the “seriousness” of the charges against Belliveau, who allegedly attacked an officer with chemical spray outside the Capitol. He then entered the building for about 15 minutes carrying a megaphone and a hockey stick, according to court records.

Request rejected, despite the congressman’s invitation

Another federal judge denied the travel request of a California man who had a personal invitation from a member of Congress to attend the inauguration with his wife and children.

Former Rep. Chris Stewart, R-Utah, endorsed Russell Taylor’s “integrity, faith and good values.”

His attorneys argued that Taylor, who received a three-year probation sentence for conspiring to obstruct Congress, “poses no risk or concern from this travel request.”

But District Judge Royce Lamberth denied the request this month, citing Taylor’s “unusually serious conduct” on Jan. 6.

Taylor handed over a backpack full of weapons including “a knife, a stun baton, two axes and carbon fiber gloves” to a co-defendant for transport to Washington.

During the riot, Taylor passed police barricades and joined the offensive against police officers outside the building, the judge said. Taylor had said his goal was insurrection and pleaded guilty in 2023.

“While he did not personally attack law enforcement officers, he did threaten them and encourage other rioters who were actively attacking them,” Lamberth wrote.

Pending requests

One request that has not yet been addressed is that of Cindy Young, who was convicted of four misdemeanors in August for entering and remaining in the Capitol and disorderly conduct. She was sentenced to four months in prison and one year of probation.

While Young’s lawyers argue that she poses no threat, government lawyers highlighted her actions on January 6, including the fact that she helped disrupt Congress’s certification of President Joe Biden victory and only left the Capitol after another rioter was shot and killed.

The Justice Department also said Young has called for retaliation against jurors, judges and law enforcement officials involved in the Jan. 6 prosecution of the defendants, all of whom are located in the Washington area.

‘I will be completely at peace’

Prosecutors are also concerned about the potential danger posed to law enforcement officers by William Pope of Topeka, Kansas.

Pope, charged with obstruction of Congress, civil disorder and entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, told a federal judge considering his travel request that he had returned to Washington twice since 2021 without incident.

“As with all my previous trips to DC, I will be completely at peace,” Pope wrote in his application.

But government lawyers focused attention again in 2021, arguing that the pope “was at the forefront of the crowd,” pushing past police officers to enter the Capitol.

“These rioters forcibly entered the United States Capitol building,” prosecutors wrote in their filing, “requiring elected officials and their staff to flee or shelter in place, resulting in hundreds of officers being injured.” and even multiple deaths.”

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