A teenager, believed to be the youngest suspect arrested in connection with the riots in the U.S. Capitol, was punched by a fellow inmate and tested positive for Covid-19, defense attorneys said Monday. .
Bruno Joseph Cua, 18, is seeking release from the Grady County Jail in Oklahoma, where he has been largely in solitary confinement since his arrest on Feb. 5, defense attorney William Zapf said in court documents in which he released his client’s release. before the trial.
“Mr Cua was assaulted this past weekend and then threatened by a fellow inmate,” Zapf wrote. “We understand that the prisoner Mr. Cua punched him in the face with his open hand and wounded his nose over the use of the phone, then threatened him with the incident. ‘
And on Saturday, a Covid-19 test for Cua came back positive, Zapf said, and his lawyers argued he was ready to have self-quarantine, perhaps in a hotel, if released.
But U.S. Assistant Attorney Kimberly Paschall argued that Cua ” poses a significant danger to the community ” and that his posts on social media ” clearly show a young man’s radical thoughts about normal functioning to stop democracy ”.
The “nature and severity of the danger to any person or community is in favor of detention in this matter,” Paschall replied.
The prosecutor did not address the alleged assault of Cua, who is in custody from Milton, Georgia. But she does mention the multiple photos he took during the January 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol, which apparently showed the suspect without a mask.
Prosecutors have ‘serious concerns about the accused’s willingness to take precautions against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic’, according to Paschall.
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump descended on Washington and stormed the US capital on January 6, hoping to stop Congress from formally accepting now-president Joe Biden’s victory.
At least five people have been killed in the riots, including one police officer who was injured in clashes with rioters. Two officers who were there that day have since died of suicide.
Cua posted on his Parler account that he was planning to go to the nation’s capital on January 6, because ‘President Trump is calling on us to FIGHT!’ And says, ‘This is not a joke, this is true and when we make our point. # 6 January, Washington DC, ”according to a criminal complaint.
Cua faces several charges in connection with the January 6 riot, including assault on a federal officer, disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building.
