DC judge says Pelosi office invader must stay in jail

A Washington, D.C., judge said Thursday that the man photographed with his feet on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) desk during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection must remain in jail.

Richard Barnett identified himself to numerous media outlets as the man in the viral image, in which a stun gun is visible on his belt. Barnett, an Arkansas resident, also told the press he had stolen an envelope on Pelosi’s desk.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ordered Barnett to be held before his trial, calling his behavior “brazen,” “entitled” and “dangerous,” according to Law & Crime.

“The government has presented overwhelming evidence that this defendant, Richard Barnett, enthusiastically participated in this assault on the Capitol,” Howell said Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Lyle Dohrmann cited Barnett’s possession during the riots of a “stun device” he purchased only days earlier as an argument against releasing him pre-trial.

The device was a ZAP Hike n’ Strike, which doubles as a walking stick, according to an FBI statement of fact. The statement said the packaging for the device was found in Barnett’s Gravette, Ark., home.

The prosecutor also noted that Barnett had earlier attended a “Save the Children” protest armed with a rifle and a pistol. While “Save the Children” began as an apolitical campaign against human trafficking, the slogan has been increasingly co-opted by followers of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory, leading some social media platforms to ban the hashtag.

Howell asked if Barnett’s participation in the rally indicated he believed in the conspiracy theory. Dohrmann said she was unsure but could not rule it out, while Barnett’s lawyer denied a connection.

Barnett has repeatedly expressed a willingness to commit violence on social media, according to The Washington Post.

In a since-removed Facebook account, he posted that he “came into this world kicking and screaming, covered in someone else’s blood” and was “not afraid to go out the same way.” Both prosecutors and Howell referenced these comments Thursday and expressed alarm, according to the publication.