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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
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Judge warns Oath Keepers to keep ‘bombastic arguments’ out of court

Representing two Capitol rioters who have been jailed pending trial and refused to get vaccinated against Covid-19, two defense attorneys attempted to file a 145-page motion that would invoke the treatment of Jews in the Holocaust. 

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge balked Monday at a request by attorneys for two Oath Keepers to file a 145-page brief that would seek their clients' release from jail on the basis that the men face purported pressure behind bars to get vaccinated. 

“Whatever motion Defendants intend to file, the court will stop reading it after page 45,” U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote tersely, referring to the page limit that is already in place. “The court will not allow this case to become a forum for bombastic arguments or propagating fringe views about Covid-19 or vaccinations.”

The two Oath Keepers, Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs, claim that the Washington jail where they have been held since they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 is forcing them to get vaccinated — even though the facility makes no such condition on detainees.

Harrelson and Meggs, from Florida, are charged with recruiting and planning for the insurrection, where they marched in a military-stack formation up the steps of the U.S. Capitol wearing paramilitary gear. 

“Since arrest, the above defendants, along with 32 prisoners at the Department of Corrections, have resisted incessant and continual efforts to break them and force them to receive these procedures,” attorneys Brad Geyer and Jonathon Moseley wrote in a Saturday motion

Geyer and Moseley claim that Meggs can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons, while for Harrelson, “taking the vaccine presents … a crisis of faith.”

“Both men believe the Covid-19 vaccines present health risks and they should not be punished because they refused to provide uninformed consent,” the attorneys wrote. “It is impossible to stay within the page limit.”

In a separate outline of what their 145-page argument would entail, Geyer and Moseley included sections called, “SCOTUS Could Not Have Foreseen the Holocaust,” “A Human Experiment Unlike Any Other,” “Forced or Coerced Medical Experimentation on Prisoners is Forbidden,” among others.

Mehta put the lawyers on notice if they plan to file a motion within the 45-page limit, saying the attorneys must first file a 5-page brief establishing evidence that the D.C. Department of Corrections has a mandatory vaccination policy. 

On Tuesday, Meggs appeared in court virtually, in an attempt to drop his old lawyer and get Moseley to represent him. 

Categories / Criminal, Politics

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