Pa. woman charged in Capitol riot may face jail after allegedly flouting court order to wear mask

The FBI beforehand alleged that Powell, carrying a pink hat and carrying a bullhorn, helped shatter a window with a battering ram and appeared to direct others on the scene.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell accredited Powell’s conditional dwelling launch on Feb. 11 pending trial, topic to location monitoring and the mask requirement.

In an order Friday, a trial choose wrote that Powell appeared to reply evasively to a court compliance officer when requested a few video just lately posted on social media apparently displaying her at her office carrying “a see-through mesh mask” with holes large enough to see her nostril and mouth by it.

In a report to the court, the officer mentioned Powell “was evasive in answering” questions concerning the materials of the mask and mentioned she added that she “threw it away per her attorney’s advisement.”

“Defendant’s decision to appear in a video wearing a mask with holes in it mocks compliance with the Court’s Order,” U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote, including that no affordable particular person may suppose that it complied with a situation Howell imposed to be sure that the defendant “would not pose a risk to the health and safety of the community when she left her house.”’

Lamberth gave Powell 10 days to reply in writing why she shouldn’t be punished for violating bond circumstances.

“The court does not take defendant’s willingness to flout the Court’s Order lightly,” mentioned Lamberth, considered one of Howell’s predecessors as chief district choose. “Additionally, the Court is concerned with defense counsel’s apparent reaction to defendant’s non-compliance.” Lamberth directed Powell’s legal professional to clarify his alleged instruction to eliminate proof.

In an e mail, Powell legal professional Michael J. Engle of Philadelphia mentioned, “I need to review the matter with my client and file a response with the Court. However, I can state with absolute certainty that the characterization of any legal advice I may have provided to my client is not accurate.”

Law & Crime first reported on April 9 {that a} video showing to present Powell in a see-through mask was posted on the Facebook web page of Mr. Bookman, a used-book retailer in Franklin, Pa., on March 31, earlier than being taken down lower than an hour after the reporter contacted the house owners.

The Sharon Herald reported that Powell has protested pandemic closures and related job and enterprise losses with the bookshop’s house owners. The paper quoting her as saying, “We are all essential [workers], because we all have to feed our families,’’ and, “I don’t think the governor has the right to tell people not to work.” The information story additionally included her in a photograph holding an indication saying, “The mask is a symbol of our enslavement.”