Federal Judge Trevor McFadden, who was nominated for the federal judiciary by Donald Trump himself and has handled a lot of the proceedings in Capitol riot cases, has rejected another new motion for release from custody from defendant Christopher Quaglin, who’s going to trial soon.
In doing so, he has also rejected a characterization raised by House Republicans including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) of supposedly especially precarious conditions for Capitol riot defendants in detention. “The Committee is concerned by reports that January 6 detainees are facing a unique form of mistreatment due to their politics and beliefs, representing potential several human rights abuses,” a letter from the House Oversight Committee that was co-signed by Greene claimed earlier this month. An underlying theme here obviously seems to be an acceptance of the claimed reports, as Greene has — among other moves — pushed for a new trial for another Capitol rioter, Jacob Chansley.
“I’ve seen cases for over a decade now and I’ve never seen a defendant have a tablet to access discovery materials,” a CBS affiliate in the D.C. area reported from the judge’s remarks in rejecting Quagmire’s motion for release. A supposedly substantive lack of reasonable access to legal resources was among the questions Greene and the other Republicans, including Reps. James Comer (Ky.) and Clay Higgins (La.), raised in their letter, which was addressed to the D.C. mayor and was specifically mentioned in recent discussions before McFadden about Quaglin’s case. Involved with the Proud Boys, Quaglin is slated to soon go to trial on allegations of physically attacking police officers.
One of the specific contentions in the most recent motion for Quaglin’s release was a complaint about the times he’s been moved between facilities, but McFadden noted that such was in connection to the defendant’s own behavior while in custody, with a series of incident reports available. The motion also complained about the length of time Quaglin has been detained, although the judge also connected that factor to his actions. Elsewhere, Greene has been continuing her advocacy on behalf of detained rioters, and during a hearing of the oversight committee, she claimed Ashli Babbitt to have been murdered, although such a legal determination wasn’t made, even after an investigation with the Justice Department’s own involvement. Read more from WUSA here.
