Richard “Bigo” Barnett is seen in the office suite of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 6, 2021 (via FBI court filing). Inset: A GPS locater is photographed on Aug. 3, 2009 (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The convicted rioter who kicked his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk as Donald Trump supporters overtook the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 has asked a judge for permission to remove his electronic ankle monitor before he has to report to prison.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett said in a filing that he should be allowed to remove the mobile monitoring system before he self-surrenders to prison in August. Barnett, one of the most memorable figures to emerge from the violent attack on the Capitol, had brazenly put his boot-clad feet on a desk in the office of the then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after breaking into the building, with a stun gun plainly visible on his belt.
“Defendant requests that the court grant permission for the Defendant to schedule a date between July 21 and July 31 to remove his ankle monitor,” a request filed Thursday says. The filing notes that Barnett “has been wearing an ankle monitor as part of his conditions of release for over two years” and that in that time, he “has no violations of his conditions of release.”
The move is apparently an attempt to stop unnecessary costs before they are incurred.
“The United States Probation Officer made the request because the Probation Office is responsible for the cost of the ankle monitor if it is not removed,” the filing says. “Based on prior experience, the best way to ensure that the United States Probation Office does not incur the cost of the ankle monitor is to arrange for the monitor to be removed before Defendant’s self-surrender.”
According to the filing, the U.S. Probation officer overseeing Barnett’s case had previously requested that the monitor be removed so that the Probation Office can get it back before he goes to prison.
“The United States Probation Officer’s request was denied, but she was advised that her request may be granted if the Defendant files a motion with the Court for the same,” the filing says. “Undersigned counsel spoke to the Probation Officer for the Western District of Arkansas, and she supports this motion.”
In the filing, Barnett’s lawyer says that probation officials don’t think removing his monitor will stop him from showing up to serve his sentence.
“Given the Defendant’s history of compliance and that his self-surrender date is just 12 days from the filing of this motion, the Probation Officer does not have concerns that the removal of the ankle monitor prior to the self surrender date will have any impact on the Defendant’s compliance with his scheduled self-surrender,” the motion says.
Barnett was convicted in January on eight counts, including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, and theft of government property, following a jury trial. He was sentenced in May to 4 1/2 years behind bars and has been ordered to self-surrender to a designated high-security prison facility by Aug. 22.
He had requested a self-surrender date of Aug. 22, but Thursday’s filing says he has been ordered to surrender by Aug. 1.
He has also appealed his case and has indicated that he will represent himself going forward.
Read Barnett’s filing, below.
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