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Capitol rioter admits to two new felonies while representing himself in bond hearing

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Capitol rioter Brandon Fellows admits to obstruction in hearing | wusa9.com

I was almost going to put this in the Jokes section, because it's almost comical. That is, it would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

WASHINGTON — Before his bond hearing began Tuesday, a federal judge warned Brandon Fellows he could be opening himself up to perjury – or even obstruction of justice – charges if he testified on his own behalf, and that he would likely be going back to jail, regardless. Two hours later, the judge’s warning turned out to be prescient.

He entered the Capitol through a broken window and smoked weed in a congressman's office.

“Most people do not do this,” U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden told Fellows. “Obviously your attorney has discouraged this. I do not think this is a good idea… but I’m going to allow you to take the stand, if you wish.”

Fellows is an Albany, New York, resident under indictment on a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In charging documents, prosecutors say Fellows entered the Capitol through a broken window and wound up smoking marijuana in Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-OR) office.

Fellows was initially granted pretrial release, but was ordered back into custody in June after repeated violations, including missing a court-ordered mental health evaluation and allegedly calling a probation officer’s mother. The Justice Department also said when a clerk of the court attempted to contact Fellows about another violation – allegations that he was harassing a former girlfriend – it was discovered he had apparently put the number for the judge’s wife’s office instead of his own.

Last month, Fellows asked McFadden to allow him to represent himself pro se in his case – saying he had spent the previous two weeks in the D.C. Jail’s law library and determined that was what he wanted. Despite warning him, repeatedly, of the possible consequences of going it alone with no formal law training, McFadden ultimately granted Fellows’ request.

On Tuesday, Fellows appeared before the judge for his first full hearing as his own counsel to argue his bond status should be reconsidered. When McFadden denied his request to call his former public defender, Cara Halverson, as a witness, Fellows instead described a conversation he said he recorded with her about a “loophole” he’d found that could get McFadden removed from the case.

Fellows said he asked Halverson if he should contact McFadden’s family as a means of disqualifying him from presiding over his case. He also said he had told Halverson – to her horror – about a previous occasion in which he’d intentionally put the phone number of another judge’s wife as his emergency contact in order to get a new judge. In that case, the judge was replaced with another.

Fellows said Halverson told him that was illegal, and if that he tried to do that with McFadden he would wind up in jail on even more serious charges.

“When I’m worried, I don’t make the most understandable decisions,” Fellows told McFadden later in explanation.

Over the course of the nearly 2-hour hearing, Fellows rambled across a difficult-to-follow litany of complaints about his incarceration, stopping to touch on subjects as widely varied as the Taliban, Guantanamo Bay, a woman who’d left her child in a dumpster and a “constitutional lawyer” who had allegedly advised him to wrap his cell phone in tin foil to avoid capture.

In her much shorter cross-examination, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Furst got Fellows to admit – under oath – that he had climbed into the Capitol through a broken window without police permission, that he had used the previous judge’s wife’s contact information to try to get him removed from the case and that he had missed court-ordered mental health and drug testing appointments.

This guy is a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. Even if he missed his court-ordered mental health and drug testing appointments, there needs to be some kind of psych eval on this guy. He's a bit off.

Would tin foil work to block signals from a cellphone?

McFadden, having listened to him talk for nearly two hours, then brought Fellows back down to Earth.

“You are charged with a federal felony,” McFadden said. “This is not a community college where you get pats on the back.”

“You’ve admitted to incredible lapses of judgment here on the stand, not least of which was seeking to disqualify a New York state judge,” the judge continued. “You’ve admitted to obstruction of justice in that case, and you’ve admitted to what was probably obstruction in this case in trying to have me disqualified, and only Ms. Halverson’s advice stopped you from doing so. You’ve engaged in a pattern of behaviors that shows contempt for the criminal justice system, and I just have no confidence that you will follow my orders if I release you.”
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
When ur not two brite.

These conservative extremists seem to want some sort of anarchy, but still want the benefits of an organized and cooperative society.
"Protect my money, but I don't want to pay no taxes!" Ooh, and MAWA! (Make America White Again, shhhh!)
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Pretty atypical of most of the January 6 protesters. He evinces obvious dementia. Still it’s not like such a demented person was President. Wait...
:eek:
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Capitol rioter Brandon Fellows admits to obstruction in hearing | wusa9.com

I was almost going to put this in the Jokes section, because it's almost comical. That is, it would be comical if it wasn't so sad.



He entered the Capitol through a broken window and smoked weed in a congressman's office.





This guy is a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. Even if he missed his court-ordered mental health and drug testing appointments, there needs to be some kind of psych eval on this guy. He's a bit off.

Would tin foil work to block signals from a cellphone?
It seems more and more that Trump's call for an insurrection wasn't that dangerous as only bumbling idiots followed his call.
The real problem seems to be the mental health system as too many bumbling idiots are roaming the streets.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
This guy is a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. Even if he missed his court-ordered mental health and drug testing appointments, there needs to be some kind of psych eval on this guy. He's a bit off.
Some people are just things I can't mention here. He's probably being defiant, another of the many who are sold on this idea of an alternate reality where one defense attorney was accused of being a traitor for pointing out real Constitutional history to a client. This guy I suspect has also watched way too many cop dramas.
 

Laika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I was almost going to put this in the Jokes section, because it's almost comical. That is, it would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

Yeah. He belongs in jail, but this is just sad and is another example of the self-inflicted horror that's going on in the US. Its such a waste and people could do so much better. :(
 

Aštra’el

Aštara, Blade of Aštoreth
It seems more and more that Trump's call for an insurrection wasn't that dangerous

Except there was no “call for insurrection”, and on 1-6 Trump was literally telling people to go home after his speech, and not do anything stupid. And yet some idiots still decided to behave just as pathetic and disgracefully as blm and antifa.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
It seems more and more that Trump's call for an insurrection wasn't that dangerous as only bumbling idiots followed his call.
And yet people still died as a result. And republicans in high office encouraged and enabled them. So did and do some media talking heads.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Capitol rioter Brandon Fellows admits to obstruction in hearing | wusa9.com

I was almost going to put this in the Jokes section, because it's almost comical. That is, it would be comical if it wasn't so sad.



He entered the Capitol through a broken window and smoked weed in a congressman's office.





This guy is a couple sandwiches short of a picnic. Even if he missed his court-ordered mental health and drug testing appointments, there needs to be some kind of psych eval on this guy. He's a bit off.

Would tin foil work to block signals from a cellphone?
Legalize more weed!
 

Jose Fly

Fisker of men
It seems more and more that Trump's call for an insurrection wasn't that dangerous as only bumbling idiots followed his call.
The real problem seems to be the mental health system as too many bumbling idiots are roaming the streets.
Don't be so quick to jump to such a broad conclusion. Just wait until the trials of the militia members start. Those people weren't messing around.
 

Kooky

Freedom from Sanity
Except there was no “call for insurrection”, and on 1-6 Trump was literally telling people to go home after his speech, and not do anything stupid. And yet some idiots still decided to behave just as pathetic and disgracefully as blm and antifa.
Where did you get that from?
 

Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
Where did you get that from?
People very often have a selective memory. His memory may be editing when Trump told the rioters to go home. Since he said idiotic things like "We love you" and "You are very special to us" He may have assumed that was at the end of his speech. After all, what moron would say that to a group of insurrectionists?:rolleyes:
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Now, here's another one: Judge Calls Capitol Rioter Facing 20 Years in Prison 'Foolish' for Acting as Own Lawyer (msn.com)

At a hearing on Thursday, Judge Royce Lamberth told Hostetter that it's "foolish" for Hostetter to serve as his own defense attorney. Lamberth said the defendant will have a "fool for a client" if he represents himself and warned Hostetter that he's never seen a defendant successfully act as his own attorney, according to NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane.

A fool for a client, indeed. He's facing 20 years.
 
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