Judge denies Jan. 6 defendant from taking company trip to Cabo San Lucas

A federal judge rejected a request from Jason Douglas Owens, a Jan. 6 defendant who on Monday asked for permission to go to a company event in Mexico.

Owens is charged with pushing a D.C. police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Owens asked Judge Beryl Howell to grant an emergency motion for permission to travel to the “2021 President’s Club” event in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in June. The five-day event was in connection to his employer Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, according to CNN.

But the judge denied the request, calling the trip a “boondoggle” and saying “this Court’s approach to nonessential foreign travel by defendants facing federal felony charges would be, like defendant’s adherence to veganism, ‘not too crazy strict.'”

His comment referenced a note from Owens in court records that indicated for his meals on the trip he is “Vegan, but not too crazy strict,” CNN noted.

“While the Court does not begrudge defendant’s apparent business success while on pretrial release, his international travel to harvest the bounties of such success will need to wait until he is no longer facing felony charges arising from ill-advised domestic travel in January 2021,” Howell also said.

In addition to Owens’ charges for assaulting a police officer, his son, Grady, is also charged with assaulting an officer with a skateboard during the Capitol riot.

The father-son duo has pleaded not guilty to their respective charges, CNN added.

Over 770 people have been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and more than 250 have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.