WASHINGTON, DC - A federal court judge here today rejected a motion by attorneys representing Edward Jacob Lang - the 26-year-old Narrowsburg native facing a 13-count indictment for his participation in the the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol - to modify his continued pre-trial detention.
In a hearing that lasted approximately two and a half hours, Lang's attorneys today (and in court papers filed late last week) argued at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that their client should be released on bond. Today, the two attorneys (Steven Metcalf II and Martin Tankleff) even suggested that Lang could live and also work with his father - former Town of Tusten council member Ned Lang - who was in the courtroom this afternoon with the defendant's mother, Sari Lang.
(The defendant's father's primary residence sits on some 222 acres in Tusten).
But in ruling from the bench, Judge Carl J. Nichols cited Lang's "crimes of violence" on January 6 along with Lang's participation on Telegram (in the immediate aftermath of the riots and right up until his arrest in Newburgh on January 16) to organize small militia groups for further anti-government violence as key reasons why he was denying the motion for release on bond.
He also stated that Lang has also shown "very little remorse" for his actions and that the evidence against him was very strong. Some of that evidence, the judge said, included Lang's recording of his actions on January 6 that were spread on his social media channels. The judge today recited some of Lang's own words which encouraged further violence. "They (threats of more violence) were not in the heat of the moment," the judge said.
Lang's attorneys tried hard to convince Nichols, as did Lang himself, that conditions at the DC Jail were so deplorable that they deprived their client from having appropriate technology access to discovery documents. But the judge told Lang's attorneys that they could work harder by traveling more often from New York to Washington to make sure their client has a hard drive and related technology containing discovery data that would help him prepare for his defense. Metcalf said that Lang has asserted that he wants to be very involved in that defense and that his Constitutional rights to do that were being violated.
One issue that also came out during the hearing was that Lang has decided against getting vaccinated against Covid-19 as offered by jail officials. Lang told the judge his decision not to get vaccinated was religious. He also said that he is being treated harsher than other January 6 defendants, has been placed in "the hole" of the jail and spends most of his day in solitary confinement.
He also told the court that this past Saturday, he and other "J6" defendants in the jail were abruptly sent to the basement of the jail while the "J6 rally" took place in Washington.
Nichols said he would soon be issuing a separate order mandating that DC Jail officials allow for Lang to gain unfettered access to discovery information. However, the judge added that there is also another pending case, before another judge in the DC Circuit that is all about deteriorating conditions at the DC Jail and that he did not want to second guess or get ahead of his colleague on that issue.
Ned Lang, early in the process following the January 2021 arrest, issued a statement that seemed to blame his son's drug problem for his actions on January 6. But the issue of Lang's substance and alcohol abuse were not mentioned today by either side or the judge or whether Lang has access to treatment.
The next status conference regarding USA v. Lang is now set for 2 pm on October 20.
(THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY)
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