A member of the far-right group Proud Boys who’s seen in images inside the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 of last year was ordered back to prison by a federal judge for multiple violations of his court-ordered curfew, Law&Crime reports.
From Law&Crime:
Joshua Pruitt was captured on video throwing a “Quiet Please” sign while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. It was one of at least two alleged violations that day. He was arrested for refusing to abide by District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser‘s curfew order that evening. It was only while Pruitt was being processed that investigators tied him to the mob of Donald Trump supporters who swarmed the Capitol trying to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 presidential election.
Pruitt’s indictment included felony charges of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, and misdemeanor charges of destruction of government property. Court documents include images of him flashing an “OK” hand gesture, and he can also be seen posing in another photograph with an assault-style rifle, standing on a Black Lives Matter banner.
He was out on bond pending trial, but prosecutors say he has not been following the rules he agreed to for his pre-trial release. “According to Pretrial Services, several times, Pruitt was away from his work and residence for hours at a time in the middle of the night, often in proximity to bars or nightclubs,” prosecutors said in their motion to revoke Pruitt’s bond.
As Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexis Loeb went through each of the curfew violations, Pruitt protested that there was a snowstorm. “I was stuck!” he claimed.
“You’re going to have to wait your turn,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly told Pruitt. “I don’t want to hear any more words out of your mouth,” Kelly added when Pruitt tried to interrupt again.
“I’m sorry,” Pruitt said at another point in the hearing, audibly crying as he spoke. “I went through hell over the last year.” Pruitt went on to say that he’d been fired from one job, and that he was trapped by a snowstorm on at least one occasion. “I’m trying to do things right,” he told Kelly. “But I’m being attacked left and right. I get death threats all the time. This is what I’m dealing with right now. I get lied about in the media, I’m working with lawyers to work on that.”
But Kelly was unmoved. “I am going to revoke Mr. Pruitt’s pretrial release and order him detained pending trial,” Kelly said. “I don’t do it lightly.”
“I’ve given Mr. Pruitt far more opportunities to show that he can comply than many judges in this courthouse would have, but he has chosen one way or another, again and again, to violate those conditions,” Kelly said.
