Edward Richmond, Jr. (via FBI court filing).
The Louisiana Army veteran who was convicted of killing an unarmed Iraqi man must be kept behind bars ahead of his trial for assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, federal prosecutors have said in an emergency filing.
Prosecutors say Edward Richmond Jr. should have been taken into custody after his arrest on Monday and are asking a federal magistrate in Washington, D.C., to override a local magistrate’s order denying pretrial detention.
In an emergency motion filed Wednesday, government lawyers say that Richmond is both a flight risk and a danger to those around him.
“Richmond has a previous manslaughter conviction for shooting a handcuffed man in the head; on January 6, he brought a metal baton to the Capitol and used to commit brutal assaults on officers,” the filing says. “When the FBI arrested him — an arrest that was complicated by Richmond’s efforts to live an untraceable life ‘off the grid’ — they discovered an assault rifle in his closet. Richmond poses both a danger and a risk of nonappearance, and the Court should detain him pending trial.”
“The government is concerned that, under growing pressure, he may snap again,” the motion adds.
Richmond allegedly “spent almost two hours attacking officers inside and at the mouth of the tunnel — participating in and bearing witness to some of the most violent attacks on law enforcement that day,” the memo says. He also allegedly used a “long wooden board to position against police attempting to guard the tunnel” and also used a baton to strike officers at the tunnel. According to the criminal complaint against him, Richmond wore a “black helmet, goggles, shoulder pads, an orange 2-way radio, and a patch on his chest of the Louisiana state flag” as he marched on the Capitol, where scores of Trump supporters violently breached the Capitol as the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win was underway, forcing lawmakers and staff to either flee the building or shelter in place for hours.
According to the memo, Richmond’s “history and characteristics” — specifically, killing a handcuffed Iraqi cow herder by shooting him in the head — support keeping him detained.
“Killing another person is perhaps the most serious offense recognized under the law,” the memo says.
Prosecutors imply that Richmond has already made efforts to evade detection, starting immediately after Jan. 6
“First, Richmond dropped his telephone number — the one used multiple times during January 6, 2021 — on February 5, 2021, after photos of Richmond were posted online by the FBI as BOLO 182. Second, by moving to an apartment that has virtually no paper trial identifiable by the FBI, including no active driver’s license, no utilities or vehicles in his name, and no traceable income, Richmond succeeded in preventing the FBI from verifying his address through any written means.”
Noting that his employment with his father has been “under-the table,” prosecutors say that Richmond’s “apparent effort to live an untraceable life outside the formal economy” makes him a flight risk.
When investigators did eventually track Richmond down through “physical surveillance,” a search of his apartment revealed that he was hiding something else, the memo says.
“Given his criminal history, Richmond is not legally allowed to possess firearms,” the filing says. “However, at his apartment, the FBI discovered an AR-15 rifle in Richmond’s home — complete with three fully loaded magazines, approximately 73 rounds of ammunition.”
An image of the AR-15 found in the home of Edward Richmond Jr., who is barred from owning weapons since his conviction for voluntary manslaughter (via FBI court filings).
Prosecutors note that in addition to his voluntary manslaughter conviction, Richmond was convicted of disturbing the peace in 2000 and driving under the influence in 2001. Also in 2001, he was arrested, but not convicted, of cocaine and marijuana possession and resisting arrest.
“His other arrests, while dated, contain other examples of lashing out under pressure, such as when Richmond was arrested for drug possession and reacted by committing a battery against the police, leading to more charges,” the memo says. “January 6 was not a one-time, innocent mistake, but rather one example of a pattern of dangerous behavior; of responding to tense situations with violence.”
Prosecutors say that Richmond’s pre-Jan. 6 history of violence warrants keeping him behind bars.
“Richmond’s dangerous conduct, of course, did not start on January 6, and it did not end there,” the memo says. “He has attacked officers before. He has killed a man — an unarmed, handcuffed man, a civilian — before. And he has now felt it necessary to arm himself with an assault rifle and over 70 rounds of ammunition in total defiance of the law. Richmond knows that a gun can irrevocably destroy lives. This did not deter him from possessing an assault weapon. He served multiple years in jail for shooting a man and was undoubtedly aware that any future possession of firearms could send him back to jail. This did not deter him. He cannot be trusted to follow the law, and he cannot be trusted not to lash out again.”
Although Richmond has family in the area who “may be a source of community support” — including a child — that may not be enough.
“[T]his support did not dissuade him from committing crimes on January 6 or keeping an assault rifle and over 70 rounds of ammunition in three fully loaded magazines in the same home that he shares with his child, knowing that he is breaking the law and risking arrest by doing so,” the memo says.
The government is seeking a stay of the presiding magistrate’s Jan. 23 order of release, noting that the magistrate judge “did not require GPS monitoring or impose a curfew; rather, the defendant must attend anger management and other treatment as directed by pretrial services, among other standard conditions.”
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