Federal prosecutors on Feb. 10 asked U.S. District Judge John Bates to have January 6 defendant and police beating victim Victoria White jailed because she met with GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Judge Bates did not order White to be taken into custody. He did bar her from appearing at the U.S. Capitol or the congressional office buildings unless she gets advance permission from the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA).
Shortly after arriving at the United States Courthouse in Washington D.C. for a status hearing on her criminal case, White learned that prosecutors were seeking to have her jailed because her visits to Capitol Hill earlier in the week violated her terms of pretrial release.
The PSA reported White’s visits to Capitol Hill to the court as a violation. Prosecutors then asked for her pretrial release to be revoked, White’s attorney, Nicole Cubbage, told The Epoch Times.
White visited Capitol Hill as part of a group led by Micki Witthoeft, the mother of slain January 6 protester Ashli Babbitt, and Nicole Reffitt, the wife of Guy Reffitt, the first January 6 defendant convicted at trial in 2022.
The group met with U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.). Among other topics, the discussion was on possible U.S. House investigations of the long pretrial detention of dozens of January 6 defendants, and the deaths of Babbitt, Rosanne Boyland, Kevin Greeson, and Benjamin Phillips on Jan. 6, 2021.
Not Allowed at Capitol
White was arrested in April 2021 on four charges for alleged crimes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Her conditions of release, signed by Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey on April 22, 2021, included this line: “Stay away from Washington D.C. except for court, meetings with attorney or PSA.”In a superseding indictment filed in January 2022, White was charged with civil disorder and aiding and abetting, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. She pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Witthoeft, who attended the court hearing, said prosecutors argued that federal lawmakers should not have to deal with seeing someone who allegedly attacked the Capitol on January 6.
Witthoeft told The Epoch Times that the DOJ argued that “her crimes were against the congresspeople and that they may feel intimidated by her presence.”
“I’m looking at that little 100-pound girl shaking like a fricking leaf thinking, ‘Really? Really?’”
Witthoeft said the issue resonates with her because U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was threatened enough by her unarmed, 5-foot 2-inch daughter to shoot her just outside the House Chamber on Jan. 6. Babbitt was pronounced dead about 30 minutes after the shooting.
“I feel that way about Ashli,” Witthoeft said. “I mean, Ashli was a little girl, and you know, Mike Byrd’s a big guy. I’m like, really? You felt threatened by my 115-pound daughter? Are you [expletive] kidding me?”
Witthoeft said she believes White deciding to go to trial could mean headaches for prosecutors, who likely won’t be eager to see certain videos get wide public viewership.
Witthoeft said she feared that White was going to be jailed after the hearing.
“I’m absolutely surprised that the prosecution didn’t get exactly what they asked for,” she said. “I am absolutely surprised they didn’t cuff that little girl up and take her into custody, because that’s what the prosecution asked for. So I will give the judge a little credit for thinking on his own and, you know, trying to be as fair as he could in that situation.
“I’m telling you, this is a system rigged against us,” Witthoeft said. “But you know, I’m proud that Victoria decided that she’s going to stand and fight for herself.”
