On Friday, a federal judge in Washington ruled that the man who was photographed sitting with his feet up in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the insurrection at the Capitol will not be released to house arrest.
Instead, according to The Daily Mail, Richard Barnett, 60, will be brought to Washington D.C. for proceedings in his case. Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell stayed a decision by another judge to keep Barnett on house arrest in his Gravette, Arkansas home until his trial.
Howell’s ruling was handed down only hours after U.S. Magistrate Judge Erin Wiedemann of Arkansas ordered a $5,000 bond for Barnett and for him to have a GPS monitor. The judge also placed restrictions on Barnett’s internet use and forbade contact with anyone who participated in the riot.
“If (Barnett) will travel across the country and engage in this level of criminal behavior because he believes that he is right and it is the Electoral College that is wrong, what would deter him?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Harris argued during the almost five-hour video conference.
According to the outlet, prosecutors showed pictures of Barnett sitting at a desk in the Speaker’s office and security video of him inside the building during Friday’s hearing. They also showed a video of him on a bullhorn outside the Capitol bragging about taking an envelope from Pelosi’s office.
Barnett faces charges of unlawfully entering a restricted area with a lethal weapon for having a stun gun. Barnett is additionally charged with disorderly conduct and theft of public property. He faces up to 11 and a half months in prison if convicted.
