WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — A federal court on Tuesday denied an appeal for pre-trial release by a Maine man charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Kyle Fitzsimons has pleaded not guilty to 10 felony counts, including entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assault on a federal officer, and certain acts during a civil disorder. He has been in jail since his February arrest.
The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit did not err in “finding that no condition or combination of conditions of release" for Fitzsimons "would reasonably assure the safety of any other person and the community.”
On Dec. 6, 2021, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras granted the press access to video and audio footage of Fitzsimons' conduct during and after the riot that prosecutors used as evidence to argue Fitzsimons should not be released pending trial.
Among the evidence released is video from a body camera worn by Metropolitan police officers, surveillance video from the Capitol building, audio and video recordings of a Jan. 7 Lebanon Board of Selectman's meeting that Fitzsimons called in to and described his actions at the riot; audio of two recorded jail calls; and an audio recording of a voicemail message left at the office of Congressman Jared Golden, D-Maine.
The voicemail left for Golden stated, "Mr. Jared Golden, or a staffer listening, I am a constituent of Maine. My name is Kyle Fitzsimons. I am asking for your courage, sir, courage to dispute what we all know is a garbage election. Will you have the courage to object on the 6th? Because I certainly have the courage to object to my entire life going forward if this is done to me. My name is Kyle Fitzsimons, and I'll be in D.C. on the 6th."
The district court of appeals on Tuesday said the lower court “did not err in weighing appellant’s conduct, the weight of the evidence against him, the nature of the charges, and the evidence of his increasingly aggressive and threatening behavior towards government officials over the past several years."
On Dec. 14, Contreras denied Fitzsimons' request to change the venue of his trial from Washington D.C. to Maine.
Fitzsimons' trial is scheduled to begin on April 4, 2022.