Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Timothy Kelly's virtual courtroom, where a hearing is about to start on the govt's request to revoke pretrial release for Jan. 6 defendant James Grant — police found an AR-15 assault rifle + ammo in his car during a December encounter s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2117…

Dial-in info for Judge Kelly:
Toll Free Number: 888-808-6929
Access Code: 3195989

Last week, Kelly granted the govt's request to revoke release for another Jan. 6 defendant, Joshua Pruitt, after finding his latest round of curfew violations pushed him over the line after repeat chances to come into compliance

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1481736885106094080

James Grant's situation differs from Joshua Pruitt's in several ways. Per govt filing, police had responded to a call for a suicide threat when they encountered Grant, and then found gun/ammo. Judge issued a warrant for his arrest in advance of a full hearing

Grant's hearing is underway, begins w/ arraignment on the latest publicly available indictment; he's part of a case that the govt has said will get combined in a superseding indictment, but prosecutor said today they can't share when that'll become public

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1481373918489452553

On the release revocation issue, the pretrial services officer notes that violation reports were also submitted before the December arrest (for testing positive for amphetamines, per govt's filing last month)

AUSA argues even if Grant hadn't been charged with a crime in December (arrested for DWI), his multiple violations of release conditions, incl. involving firearm and controlled substances, show he's abused the privileges of pretrial release and poses a danger to the community

AUSA acknowledges that the govt consented to release conditions after Grant was charged/arrested for Jan. 6 in October, but says it was a close call at the time

Grant's lawyer Peter Cooper is up, begins by saying that the Dec. arrest doesn't change the court's analysis of Grant's charged conduct on Jan. 6 re: pretrial detention. Judge says that's sort of true, but it changes the context in terms of how the court weighs different factors

Cooper argues that despite the comments Grant made during his arrest that made him seem like a suicide risk, he is not a danger to himself and was just frustrated with the circumstances; has struggled with substance abuse, something he's trying to get a handle on

Kelly notes pretrial services chronology has Grant charged with DWI/concealed carry of firearm in Sept. and that case is pending, which means he was already on release and likely under conditions that would prohibit committing other crimes
(redoing since month was wrong before)

Kelly says he's having trouble hearing Cooper and I am too, full disclosure, but what I hear Cooper saying is that Grant had firearms in his car because he was taking them to get rid of them/put them into storage

Cooper argues that if you set aside the firearms issue, substance abuse isn't a stand-alone reason to step someone back, and that it's a health issue that Grant is dealing with (although he also acknowledges that gun and drugs are not a good mix)

Now: Judge Kelly announces that he is going to revoke James Grant's pretrial release for violating his conditions, which means he'll be placed in custody while his case is pending

Kelly explains his decision to place Grant in pretrial detention, citing combination of substance abuse issues, potential mental health issues, access to firearms, and violations of pretrial release conditions, plus previous arrests

Judge says he understands the explanation Grant's lawyer gave for why he had a firearm/ammunition in the car when he was arrested for being intoxicated, but if the intent was to end his firearm access, that intent wasn't being realized