Richard Barnett, the retired Arkansas firefighter seen round the world in a Jan. 6 news photo with his foot on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s desk, could not have known a few days later when he surrendered to federal authorities that it would be nearly four long months before he would again see the outside world.
Given federal pre-trial detention law and precedent, as well as his explanation of his involvement in that day when hundreds of demonstrators angry about the outcome of the November 2020 presidential election entered the U.S. Capitol, Barnett could reasonably have expected, at worst, to be restricted to his home while awaiting trial.
