Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Thomas Hogan's virtual courtroom, where arguments are set to begin shortly on release motions filed by the two men charged with conspiring to assault Officer Sicknick at the Capitol, Julian Khater and George Tanios.

On their motions:

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1384606710678048768

If you'd like to listen in to the Khater/Tanios detention hearing, here are the court's public lines, it's before Judge Hogan: dcd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-emerg…

Khater's lawyer Joseph Tacopina goes first, reiterates the argument from his brief that what Khater is accused of — spraying pepper spray at police — was a "limited and isolated" act, and contends he's unlike other rioters who crossed police barriers and went into the Capitol

Tacopina argues the DC Circuit's Munchel decision (laying out standards for pretrial detention in these cases) helps them — that the govt can't show Khater poses a concrete risk to public safety going forward

Khater was recorded on video asking Tanios for "that bear shit," per charging docs, but it appears that what he actually ended up using was a different pepper spray, not bear spray. Tanios allegedly bought different types of spray, and the bear sprays were found unused later

Khater's lawyer is arguing that his client deployed the pepper spray against Sicknick and other officers in response to being sprayed with a chemical himself by police — that is, that it wasn't a premeditated act, notwithstanding him asking for a spray from Tanios minutes earlier

Tacopina now comparing Khater's case to other Jan. 6 defendants charged with violence against cops who were granted release — he starts with Robert Palmer, who is accused of throwing a wooden plank at police, spraying a fire extinguisher, and then throwing the extinguisher itself

Hogan asks Tacopina about Lamberth's detention order for Scott Fairlamb, charged with punching an officer. Tacopina argues spraying pepper spray is different from striking an officer; Hogan says multiple officers were injured, and that gives him concern

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1386772005119307778

AUSA Gilead Light is up and begins by showing the judge video of Khater and Tanios on the scene at the Capitol. The DC fed court only gives the public audio access to these hearings, so we can't see the video as the prosecutor narrates. Screenshots here: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2069…

Would note that some courts have arranged for public access to video of hearings during the pandemic, so when Tanios had a detention hearing in fed court in WV last month, we could see the evidence during the govt's presentation: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…)

Light is arguing that video from outside the Capitol shows that Khater and Tanios would have been aware of what was happening, that the assault on the building was already underway; Khater's lawyer had pushed back on notion they were part of the larger insurrection effort

Tanios' lawyer Beth Gross argues the govt isn't sharing all the words he says during his exchange with Khater, and that he also told Khater "don't do it" when Khater asked for "that bear shit." Light counters that Tanios saying "not yet" implies that a time is coming

AUSA Light argues even though it appears Khater ended up using the pepper spray and not the bear spray against officers, the purchase of all the sprays goes to advance planning for violence by Tanios and Khater: "It's an uncontested fact that there are no bears in downtown DC"

Responding to the arg by Khater's lawyer that they weren't part of the broader assault and the spraying of police was a limited, defensive incident, AUSA Light argues that there was a "step-by-step assault" on the police line that led to the mob being able to overrun police

Because of scheduling issues at the jail re: video conferencing access, the judge told everyone at the start that he had to end the hearing at 11am. He's just now getting to Tanios' lawyer, so the judge says they may need to hold future args or have parties submit more briefing

No ruling on Julian Khater and George Tanios' motions for pretrial release right now — the judge needs to set another hearing to finish arguments because today's hearing has to end due to a schedule conflict, and he also needs time to go through the videos again. Stay tuned.