Judge Furious With DC Jail Officials, Found in Contempt in January 6 Protest Case

 

“It’s more than just inept and bureaucratic shuffling of papers,” Judge Royce C. Lamberth fumed during a hearing about medical delays. “Does no one care? Does no one follow up?” Christopher Worrel is one of the January 6 protesters who has been incarcerated in a D.C. jail and has not received medical treatment for a broken wrist. He also suffers from Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

“I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused,” Lamberth said, adding that he was made aware of the “inexcusable” delay last week and ordered jail officials to turn over notes to the U.S. Marshals Service since Worrell is a federal inmate.

 

Lamberth said that when he learned the jail still had not sent over the records on Tuesday morning he ordered them to appear in court for a contempt hearing. Deputy Attorney General Chad Copeland confirmed during the hearing that jail officials eventually produced the records Tuesday afternoon.

“It took a court order from me and a threat of contempt to get it approved. Why did that happen? No one at the jail noticed he’s been sitting there in pain this whole time?” Lamberth said.

After the hearing, Lamberth ordered that Wanda Patten, the warden of the D.C. jail, and Quincy Booth, director of the D.C. Department of Corrections, “are in civil contempt of court.” The order also noted that the U.S. Attorney General received a copy of the ruling “for appropriate inquiry into potential civil rights violations of Jan. 6 defendants, as exemplified in this case.”

….

From the Daily Beast

 

Fox:

“For the reasons stated in open court, it is adjudged that the Warden of the D.C. jail Wanda Patten and Director of the D.C. Department of Corrections Quincy Booth are in civil contempt of court,” U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Washington ruled Wednesday. “The Clerk of the Court is ordered to transmit a copy of this order to the Attorney General of the United States for appropriate inquiry into potential civil rights violations of Jan. 6 defendants, as exemplified in this case.”

I find that the civil rights of the defendant have been abused,” Lamberth, a Reagan appointee, said at the hearing. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s a January 6th defendant or not, but I find this matter should be referred to the attorney general of the United States for a civil rights investigation into whether the D.C. Department of Corrections is violating the civil rights of January 6th defendants … in this and maybe other cases.”

Christopher Worrell, the defendant in the specific case who is being charged with several felonies related to the January 6th riot, is being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has contracted the coronavirus while in jail. Worrell broke his hand in jail in May and was recommended to have surgery in June but in August his lawyers say jail officials have not addressed the injury and have only provided Tylenol and other anti-inflammatories. 

The judge’s ruling in Worrell’s case comes after he found there was more than an “inexcusable” delay of jail officials turning over medical documents.

….

The judge had separately chastised city officials for cutting down the number of rooms in the jail for virtual court visits and for sending an inmate to his court a few weeks ago when they did not have the results of a coronavirus test, saying the “incompetence of jail officials” led to the prisoner being sent back and forth from court without appearing before the judge.

 

Several accused rioters and their lawyers have alleged mistreatment while detained for their actions on Jan. 6. As of last month, nearly 40 accused rioters were incarcerated in D.C. out of almost 700 awaiting trial.

The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of court and jail records for the Capitol riot defendants to uncover how many were being detained and found roughly 70 held in federal custody awaiting trial or sentencing hearings. At least 40 are jailed in Washington. The rest are locked up in facilities across the country. Many have not been charged yet.

 

Sound up. Here are the violent protesters no doubt part of the 700 waiting trial. Note the police did nothing.

I love to go a wandering…. pic.twitter.com/L299IrcZwi

— Justice For Ashli Babbitt (@ForAshli) May 25, 2021

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