D C judge refuses to cancel hearing for Proud Boys leader awaiting trial washingtontimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtontimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A judge blocked a motion from Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, leader of the far-right Proud Boys, that challenged an order barring him from returning to Washington, DC, after his January 4 arrest on misdemeanour and felony charges.
Judge Robert Okun, an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, wrote in his February 4 ruling (PDF) the condition that Tarrio not return to DC was the “least restrictive condition consistent with public safety” given “his prior criminal history“.
Tarrio was arrested for allegedly burning a Black Lives Matter banner taken from a historically-Black church during December demonstrations. He was released ahead of his trial, which does not have a date, but ordered to stay outside the US capital.
“There are people being held in cages you know, in cells for 23 hours a day and I think they have a right to know when they’re going to have their day in court,” defense lawyer Carrie Weletz, who is representing Mr. Sharps in an appeal, told The Washington Times.
The 23-hour cell confinement is part of the D.C. Jail’s effort to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
“With that hour [outside the cell], they can choose things, right?” Ms. Weletz said. “My clients frequently choose not to shower because that’s their time of the day to stand in line to get a phone call with their family, which is the absolute only communication that most of them have with their family.”