‘Unprecedented, Unreasonable, Unconstitutional, and Wrong’
The Justice Department won't have January 6 evidence ready until 2022. "No January Sixer should be made to suffer in a jail cell while the DOJ continues to delay discovery simply because it can," one defense attorney told me by text this afternoon. "This is unprecedented, unreasonable, unconstitutional, and wrong."
More than three dozen January 6 detainees are incarcerated at the D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility awaiting trial or plea offers. On July 7, the D.C. Circuit Court denied Hale's appeal seeking release. McFadden scolded the government for its backwards process. "You would not arrest [someone] then gather evidence later. That's not how this works." When Fifield said full discovery is in the best interest of the defendant, McFadden shot back: "Freedom also is important to the defendant." The Trump-appointed judge raised concerns over Sixth Amendment violations. "This does not feel what the Constitution [and] the Speedy Trial Act envisions."