Lawyers for the man pictured sitting at the desk of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the US Capitol riot on January 6 argue that he referred to her as a “biatch,” not a “b*tch,” in asking for his release.
The lawyers for Capitol riot defendant Richard Barnett, known as Bigo, wrote in a court filing filed Friday, “This written note, however, says, ‘Hey Nancy Bigo was here biatch.’ It does not say ‘you’ or ‘b*tch.’ ”
“Instead of writing the accusatory ‘You b*tch’ as the government falsely states, it only says ‘biatd’ and without the word ‘you,’ ” the lawyers added in a footnote. “On information and belief, the ‘d’ was meant to be two letters, ‘c’ and ‘h’ with the ‘c’ connected to an ‘h’ to spell the word ‘biatch’ which is a slang and less offensive word for ‘b*tch’.”
The lawyers also provided a link to an online description of “biatch,” which was described as “slang… used as a term of endearment or disparagement for another person” by the lawyers.
Barnett is scheduled to appear in court this afternoon, where he will make his case to a federal judge for his release. A separate judge ruled he wanted to remain held at a previous hearing, but that decision came before the DC appeals court made it more difficult for the Justice Department to hold Capitol rioters in prison.
“You can’t keep pushing me out month by month,” Barnett said over a videoconference line from prison a few months ago. “Everybody else who did things much worse are already home!”
“Listen to your attorneys,” said DC federal Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper, who was trying to stop Barnett from screaming. Barnett, who has been in custody for more than a month, also accused prosecutors of “dragging this out,” said he would not agree to appear in court in May and yelled that he needed assistance.
Barnett spoke up at a previous hearing, saying, “I have some very honest and simple explanations. I am a good man.”
After allegedly taking a letter from Pelosi’s office, Barnett was charged with breaching the restricted grounds of the Capitol with a stun gun, aiding and abetting the obstruction of the legislative session, and theft of public property. He has entered a not guilty plea.
In a January hearing for Barnett, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court said, “The titles of those offenses don’t even properly capture the scope of what Mr. Barnett is accused of doing here.” At the hearing, Howell described the conduct of the Capitol riot perpetrators as an attack on American democracy and ruled that Barnett should remain in custody while awaiting trial.
Since Cooper is handling his case following his seven-count indictment, he will have his hearing on Tuesday before Cooper of the DC District Court, a colleague of Howell’s.
Authorities claim Barnett, of Arkansas, was pictured sitting at a desk in Pelosi’s office during the riot. He was apprehended two days later in Little Rock, according to federal authorities.
