WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Washington on Thursday ordered that Richard Barnett – the Arkansas man photographed sitting with his foot up in the office of Mayor Nancy Pelosi, during the January 6 uprising – be kept in prison while her case went ahead, practically spitting out the words in anger when she announced her bank decision.
“Your fair behavior … shows a total disregard for the law and the directives of the authorities,” said United States District Chief Judge Beryl Howell. “Total disregard for the United States Constitution.”
Prosecutors appealed to Howell after an Arkansas federal judge on Jan. 15 denied his request to keep Barnett in custody pending trial and ordered house arrest. Howell said on Thursday that the crimes Barnett was accused of were “too benign” to capture the scope of what he and others accused of participating in the insurrection did on January 6. Barnett faces a charge of dangerous weapon possession on Capitol Hill – a stunning cane-shaped device – as well as two counts of misdemeanor for violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and theft of government property; he was photographed outside the Capitol holding an envelope he said he took from Pelosi’s office.
“What happened that day is a criminal activity that is destined to go into this country’s history books,” said Howell. “This was not a peaceful protest. Hundreds of people came to Washington, DC, to interrupt the transition of power and prevent Congress, a branch of the federal government, in fulfilling its functions, in fulfilling its constitutional task of officially certifying the electoral college votes. “
Howell said DC residents were still living with the “consequences” of the Capitol attack, looking at the deployment of the National Guard that preceded President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The evidence against Barnett was “overwhelming,” she said, describing how he “strutted” in Pelosi’s office and “felt so right that he set foot on the table” and picked up his correspondence. Howell knows Capitol well – years before she became a federal judge in 2010, she spent a decade working for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Blatant, correct, dangerous,” said the judge about Barnett.
During Barnett’s first detention hearing in Arkansas, his lawyer introduced friends and family as witnesses to the character. Howell was not persuaded, saying that many of the witnesses did not appear to know Barnett well, and it appeared that his wife had tried to hide evidence. Although Barnett had no criminal record, Howell credited government evidence that he was the subject of two police reports last year, including one in which the caller accused him of pointing the rifle at her car because she had a Life Sticker is important.
Barnett’s lawyer, Anthony Siano, argued that his client had voluntarily surrendered when he learned he was wanted, a sign that he would comply with court orders if he was allowed to return home. But Howell did not pay much attention either, pointing out that there was evidence that he had taken steps to avoid detection, including turning off location tracking on his phone, and boasted to the FBI that they would find nothing incriminating. his home because he was “smart”; investigators did not find Barnett’s phone number, the prosecutor noted on Thursday. Howell joked that she didn’t know how smart Barnett was, “but he certainly is a buck.”
The judge also read aloud in an incredulous tone, comments that Barnett gave to a New York Times reporter after leaving the Capitol building, including, “I wrote her a nasty note, put my feet on her table and scratched my balls.” In a video recorded outside the Capitol, Barnett described leaving a note in Pelosi’s office that said, “Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch.”
When Howell was about to announce his decision, Barnett – who was connected remotely to the prison hearing – asked for a delay to speak to his lawyer first. He briefly tried to argue on his own behalf, saying he was a “good man” who was involved in his community. This did not change the judge’s opinion.
Siano was also briefly the target of Howell’s ire. He had filed a letter in court accusing prosecutors of failing to notify him of his appeal of the judge’s release order and “deceiving” the court about his role as Barnett’s lawyer. Howell said that Siano’s allegations of misconduct are “frivolous and without merit” and that such behavior “is not acceptable”.
Barnett’s case is one of the few where prosecutors have asked federal judges in DC, where Capitol insurrection cases are being prosecuted, to revoke previous release orders after the defendants were arrested in their home states. Several of these cases are pending before Howell, who signaled on Thursday that defense lawyers in these other cases face a major escalation to convince her to allow her clients to return home.
The magistrate judge in Arkansas who handled Barnett’s case did a thorough job examining the records before making a decision, Howell said at the end of the hearing.
“But I respectfully disagree,” she said.