QAnon Shaman Denied Release By Federal Judge For Role In Capitol Riot
A federal judge denied Jacob Angeli Chansley, the Phoenix man also known as the "QAnon Shaman," a request to be released from custody as he awaits trial on six federal charges related to the Jan. 6 riot on the Capitol.
Chansley drew attention during the riots for his face paint and furry hat with horns.
Judge Royce Lamberth said Monday that Chansley's attorney provided "nothing in his motions or oral arguments that constituted evidence" that would have a “material bearing,” the legal standard, on his decision to hold Chansley, according to the Arizona Republic.
Lamberth had considered Chansley a flight risk since he didn't have a job, yet traveled to Washington, D.C., in a raid on the Capitol.
Chansley's attorney Albert Watkins said that Chansley has been held in solitary confinement, which has done damage to his mental well-being. He was moved in June to a Colorado facility to have a court-ordered mental screening to deem if he is fit for trial.
Watkins had argued that if Chansley was released, his family from the Phoenix area would provide him with support.
Lamberth responded in his written ruling that this was not convincing argument considering, “Angeli’s family connections have not prevented him from traveling undetected in the past" and that “the Court is unpersuaded that they will prevent him from doing so again in the future.”
Chansley was arrested when he showed up to FBI headquarters in Phoenix for what he thought would just be questioning, but he was then arrested and charged with “knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.”
Chansley wrote an apology letter from jail with details about how himself and others were "having a very difficult time piecing together all that happened to us, around us, and by us."
"We are good people who care deeply about our country," he wrote. "It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming,"
Chansley also wrote in a note to then-Vice President Mike Pence at the Capitol.
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