During a Friday afternoon federal court hearing, Judge Reggie B. Walton repeatedly went after Trump insurrectionist Daniel Goodwyn (and his lawyer) for refusing to abide by requirements to wear a face mask. Although he has since been released from federal custody ahead of his trial, when Goodwyn was first arrested back in January after the Capitol riot, he refused to put on a face mask and then actually chewed up (and spit out) a mask that agents placed on his face. Goodwyn apparently reacted similarly to several follow-up masks that law enforcement personnel handling him attempted to get in place.
At one point during Friday’s hearing, Goodwyn insisted that he believes he “would not cause someone to die by not wearing a mask,” leading Walton to pose the question in response: “When did you go to medical school?” As Walton put it at another point:
‘You may not believe in this virus even though 600,000 people have died… I’m not going to be a part of spreading this virus because of what you don’t believe.’
Specifically, Goodwyn’s refusal to wear a face mask when required violates the terms of his pre-trial release from custody, but Walton opted not to order the defendant back to jail — yet. Walton noted during this week’s proceedings that Goodwyn would still be required to wear a face mask when meeting with pre-trial services officers or appearing in-person in court, explaining that if he refused, then he could expect to be sent back to jail. As the judge explained, referencing the face mask requirement: “If you can’t do that I’m going to have no alternative [but] to lock you up and keep you locked up until this case is resolved… They don’t have to put their lives at risk, they don’t have to, and they will not.”
Goodwyn — who, according to his lawyer, has been diagnosed as on the autism spectrum — indicated during the proceedings that he would continue to resist wearing face masks. As he put it, in response to Walton’s threat of arrest: “I understand; I’m not going to do that, sir,” also noting that Texas state law doesn’t demand face masks indoors. (In fact, just this week Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott signed an executive order blocking local officials from putting mandates to wear face masks in place.) Walton commented as follows in response to Goodwyn’s reference to Texas state law: “I don’t care what the law in Texas is… You don’t make the rules. You will be arrested.”
