WASHINGTON – A US judge on May 4 apologized to the man accused of attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump for the “legally deficient” treatment he has faced in a jail in Washington, D.C., which included being placed on suicide watch, separated from other inmates and denied a Bible.
US Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said he was disturbed by the conditions for Cole Allen, who allegedly fired a shotgun during a foiled attack on Mr Trump and senior officials in his administration at an April 25 press gala. The judge said the conditions were inappropriate for a person with no criminal history.
“Whatever you’ve been through, I apologise,” Judge Faruqui said during a court hearing.
Judge Faruqui said he has an obligation to make sure the 31-year-old Los Angeles-area man is “treated with the basic decency of a human being”.
Allen last week agreed to remain detained in the local jail in Washington after his lawyers said they would not contest arguments from prosecutors that he posed a danger. He has been charged with attempted assassination and firearms offences. He has not yet entered a plea.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said Allen told FBI agents following his arrest at the site of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner that he did not expect to survive the alleged attack.
Allen’s lawyers raised concerns that he was placed on suicide watch despite showing no suicidal tendencies during a health evaluation, was housed in a padded cell for 23 hours a day and denied access to a Bible. Allen has since been removed from suicide watch, but remains in restrictive housing, a condition his lawyers said they did not oppose.
“Right now, it’s not working. It’s insufficient. I think it’s legally deficient,” Judge Faruqui said of Allen’s treatment in the jail.
The judge noted that while the allegations against Allen are “extremely serious”, pretrial detention is not supposed to be punitive.
Judge Faruqui compared Allen’s treatment with that of people who took part in the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, when supporters of Mr Trump tried to prevent Congress from certifying former US president Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 US presidential election.
Judge Faruqui said defendants in those cases were treated more favourably despite engaging in what the judge called comparable conduct.
“I’m fascinated and disturbed,” the judge said.
Many Capitol riot defendants, whom Mr Trump has since pardoned, also objected to their treatment in the same Washington jail, and were housed in a unit separate from other inmates.
Judge Faruqui ordered a lawyer for the jail to alert him by the morning of May 5 when a final decision would be made about the terms of Allen’s confinement. REUTERS
