Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Chris Cooper's virtual courtroom, where arguments are starting soon on Richard Barnett's motion for release — he's the one who told reporters he left Pelosi a note that said, "Nancy, Bigo was here, you bitch" (looks like "bitch" was misspelled on the actual note)

Barnett lost the last time he tried to argue for release in January, with Chief Judge Howell saying that his "entitled behavior ... shows a total disregard for the law": buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

He's arguing the legal landscape is very different now, given rulings in other cases

If you'd like to listen to the hearing in Barnett's case, here's the public dial-in info for the court, it's before Judge Cooper: dcd.uscourts.gov/covid-19-emerg…

AUSA Mary Dohrmann says she's started having plea talks with Richard Barnett, but hasn't formally extended a plea offer yet. Barnett is facing an est'd sentencing guidelines range of 70-87 mos (not counting any credits for things like accepting responsibility)

Judge Cooper begins by saying he was "confused" about Barnett's release motion connecting Jan. 6 to the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests. "Clear that up for me," he says to Barnett's lawyer Joseph McBride

McBride says they brought up BLM to show that 2020, leading up to Jan. 6, was full of lots of protests, and to highlight examples of cases where people arrested at other demonstrations that involved violence were granted release. Cooper indicates he doesn't see the relevance

A key part of Barnett's case and the scope of charges is that he was carrying a walking stick stun gun at the Capitol. McBride claims Barnett took the batteries out so it wasn't operational, and Cooper presses him about how he knows that's a fact (feds never found the stun gun)

McBride argues the exhibits presented by the govt don't show lights on that would indicate the stun gun was on and powered up on Jan. 6. The govt has called this line of argument "self-serving" and "pure fiction"

Cooper asks about govt's evidence of Barnett's participation in demonstrations associated with QAnon where he was armed. McBride says he was engaging in constitutionally protected activity. Cooper pushes back, saying that can be true but it also can be relevant to community risk

AUSA Dohrmann is arguing that Barnett is different from Munchel (who was released after appealing to the DC Circuit) because:
- "aggressively" confronted law enforcement carrying stun gun
- phone is missing = evidence of concealment
- left disturbing note for Pelosi
- QAnon ties

Cooper is taking a short recess and then will announce his decision. Tone-wise, he sounded pretty skeptical of the presentation from Barnett's lawyer that enough has changed since Jan to merit release (always with the caveat that covering audio-only hearings has limits!)

But Cooper also had to press the AUSA to address the DC Circuit's opinion in Munchel, saying there didn't seem to be "a whole lot of daylight" between the two cases

Cooper's back and not mincing words: "The notion that the events of Jan. 6 were a legitimate or excusable social protest against ruling elites or worse yet a reaction to some people in society feeling that they have been unfairly scapegoated for racism is, in a word, absurd."

Cooper is still going through the factors re: detention and hasn't announced his ruling yet — he just began by making clear that he was very unimpressed by Barnett's invocation of the George Floyd/BLM protests and connecting those to what happened on Jan. 6

Now: Judge Cooper will release Richard Barnett to home detention, indicating that he found the facts and circumstances concerning, but ultimately concluded that Barnett's case was too similar to the Munchel case to warrant keeping him in jail pending trial

Cooper ends with something of a warning to Barnett, saying his ruling granting release is not an indication of what he'll do at sentencing if Barnett pleads guilty or goes to trial and is convicted. "Consider this a test, okay?" Barnett thanks the judge.

Story: The man photographed with his foot on Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Capitol riots will be released from jail — it's the latest setback for prosecutors since the DC Circuit raised the bar for pretrial detention in these cases buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Three months ago, a judge ordered Richard Barnett — the man photographed smiling and with his foot up in Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6 — to stay in jail pending trial.

Today, a judge ruled he could go home.

What changed and how we got here: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…