NEW: Kentucky federal magistrate judge has ordered Stephen Chase Randolph detained pretrial and sent to D.C.

(Video shows him breaking down the barriers and knocking over a Capitol Police officer, rendering her unconscious.)

huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…
Judge wrote that Randolph had a "mostly law-abiding past” but engaged "in an egregious, injurious, and felonious assault on a federal law enforcement officer as part of a broader effort to disrupt the democratic process of the United States government.” documentcloud.org/documents/2069…
Randolph’s conduct, the judge wrote “shocks the conscious.” After Randolph knocked over the Capitol Police officer and caused her to hit her head on a metal stair handrail, he went on to assault more officers and left her an “unconscious heap on the ground.”
The magistrate judge found that the government had not proven risk of flight. His girlfriend (whose Instagram post led the feds to Randolph through facial recognition) and her family support him, despite disagreeing with Randolph’s political views.
Judge says that given the circumstances of Jan. 6 there’s little chance he’d once again participate in a "political-rally-turned-violent-insurrectionist-mob.”

But…
"Randolph’s actions as viewed on the videos from that day show a man who is capable of assaulting law enforcement, injuring an officer, and going back for more 'fucking fun’ by fighting with two more officers.”
"The Court cannot conclude that an individual who, after three months of reflection, brags
to a stranger about the behavior he exhibited on the YouTube and Instagram videos, does not pose
a serious danger to the community.”
It’s pretty clear that the FBI went with the rare undercover route here because federal cases built on facial recognition hits are relatively novel. And ultimately it was the comments the UCEs solicited that resulted in the judge’s decision on detention. huffpost.com/entry/facial-r…
Also, a federal grand jury has now indicted Randolph alongside Paul Russell Johnson. justice.gov/usao-dc/case-m…

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More from @ryanjreilly

30 Apr
At a hearing for Capitol defendant Michael Foy (charged with attacking cops with a hockey stick) Judge Tanya Chutkan expressed concern about what she’s heard about the conditions of confinement in D.C. jail.
Judge Chutkan said she understands the government is "prosecuting a mass crime” but she’s particularly concerned about Foy’s pretrial detention because he’s the only Capitol defendant she has who doesn’t have a prior record but is being held pretrial.
In a filing late last night, Foy’s team said trial "is nowhere in sight” and Foy is being held "effectively in harsh solitary confinement” conditions that have been described as a "grave human rights abuse.” courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Read 7 tweets
29 Apr
NEW: The feds have arrested Utah’s Landon Kenneth Copeland for assaulting cops at the Capitol. #seditionhunters #RedPoloRising
“Copeland admitted to fighting with police officers,” on February 11, per affidavit. #RedPoloRising courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Really making some federal prosecutor’s pretrial detention memo pretty easy here. Beginning to suspect some of these Capitol defendants haven’t read the Muncel decision! (h/t @SandySkipper1)
Read 4 tweets
29 Apr
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press urges Attorney General Merrick Garland to “make the treatment of the press an essential part” of any policing practices probes. rcfp.org/wp-content/upl…
DOJ’s consent decree with Ferguson put some media protections in place, requiring at minimum supervisor approval before officers made "any arrest of any member of the media, whether formally credentialed or not, including citizen-journalists and live-streamers.”
Arresting journalists now costs Ferguson points on their annual review. justice.gov/opa/file/83343…
Read 4 tweets
28 Apr
Superseding indictment makes it explicit: "The defendants engaged in domestic terrorism, as defined at Title 18, United States Code, Section 2331.” justice.gov/usao-dc/press-…
“The department is very judicious about deploying the term in the first instance, and typically will only do so in the backend of litigation when the facts and circumstances are going to be clear.” huffpost.com/entry/white-te…
“In many instances, the government is going to be constrained, to a certain degree, from stepping in front of a podium and saying, ‘Ladies and gentleman, we’re revealing domestic terrorism here.’” huffpost.com/entry/white-te…
Read 5 tweets
28 Apr
On CNN, DC Police Officer Mike Fanone said it’s a miracle that there wasn’t a higher body count on Jan. 6, and that he’d only seen combat that brutal on a mass scale in the movies.
DJ Rodriguez is currently being held for electroshocking Fanone. huffpost.com/entry/daniel-j…
The feds say Thomas Sibick buried Fanone’s badge in his backyard. More of Fanone’s assailants are still at large. huffpost.com/entry/thomas-s…
Read 8 tweets
27 Apr
Think this is a new one. They had a deportation officer with ICE (who is on a FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force) question a Capitol defendant who wore a "GOD, GUNS & TRUMP” sweatshirt to the insurrection.
Jeffrey Register gave up the goods pretty quickly here, helpfully knocking out elements. He self-surrendered in Jacksonville today, per DOJ. justice.gov/usao-dc/case-m…
Seen a lot of Capitol case affiants, but think ICE deportation officer may be a new one.

Although it’s really Google that did most of the work here.
Read 4 tweets

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