A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday considered whether to send a Marine Corps veteran to jail for violating his bond in his Capitol riot case after he was caught scaling a building while possessing knives and razor blades. (U.S. Air Force)
(Tribune News Service) — A federal magistrate judge on Tuesday considered whether to send a Marine Corps veteran to jail for violating his bond in his Capitol riot case after he was caught scaling a building while possessing knives and razor blades.
But after hearing testimony in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya decided to instead grant John George Todd III’s request to move to South Carolina to live with his sister and her husband while he awaits his trial later this year.
Upadhyaya swore in Kristen and Christopher Revels as Todd’s third-party custodians and transferred his pre-trial supervision from the Western District of Missouri to the District of South Carolina.
Todd will be restricted to his residence at all times except for activities such as employment, education, religious services, medical or mental health treatment and court appearances, according to the judge’s ruling.
Todd, 33, had been free on a personal recognizance bond since his May 2022 arrest in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection. Prosecutors allege he was caught on video making threatening remarks to police during the riot.
He faces four misdemeanor counts related to the breach: entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Todd has declined to accept a plea bargain, and a bench trial is scheduled for Oct. 16.
Prosecutors said Todd should be sent to jail pending trial for violating his conditions of release that prohibited him from possessing any firearms or weapons or consuming excessive amounts of alcohol.
“Specifically, the defendant had contact with local law enforcement, while experiencing suicidal ideations and was found to have both razor blades and knives on his person,” said a document filed April 25 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “More concerningly, the defendant also scaled the side of a building to try to gain access to a person” with whom he was upset. Todd also was intoxicated at the time, prosecutors said.
The government said that “while this incident alone is disturbing, this is not the only transgression in this case.”
“...The defendant has previously violated his conditions, unlawfully possessing a firearm while experiencing acute mental health concerns. As a result of this incident, the defendant was ordered to undergo medical or psychiatric treatment.”
The episode involving the firearm possession occurred in September 2022, the government said, and the case involving the razor blades and knives was on April 12.
While it “appreciates the defendant’s mental health condition(s),” the government said, the issue the court now faces is whether Todd violated his conditions of release — and if he did, “whether his current state of supervision remains appropriate.”
“Respectfully, it does not.”
In its filing, the government said the court also must consider whether any conditions of release would assure that Todd would not flee or pose a danger to other people or the community, or whether he is unlikely to abide by any conditions of release.
“Here, over the course of approximately six months, the defendant possessed multiple weapons, appeared to stalk another civilian, and threatened his own life, necessitating response by local law enforcement,” the government said.
Those concerns, it said, must be considered with the backdrop of Todd’s pending criminal charges involving the Capitol breach.
“During the riot, while in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol building, the defendant screamed, near law enforcement, ‘I swear to G-d, I’ll hip toss your ass into the f—--- crowd, mother —---!” the government’s filing said. “He appeared to then smoke a cigarette while in the Rotunda. The seriousness of this crime is not to be understated. All in all, the defendant’s prolonged and repeated violations raise substantial concern about his compliance with pretrial release.”
In an April 27 response, Todd’s attorney, John Pierce — who has represented more than 20 Capitol riot defendants, including “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley — said Todd is an Afghanistan combat veteran who is dealing with combat-related PTSD.
“Mr. Todd has suffered several traumatic bouts of mental health episodes and has been continuously under the care of Veterans Administration (VA) mental health counselors and treatment physicians,” Pierce said.
He described Todd’s actions on April 12 as “a minor incident” that involved a domestic issue and alcohol use.
Pierce said Todd was getting medical and mental health treatment at the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and “is doing well under the circumstances,” with “a comprehensive plan for outpatient recovery.”
“Mr. Todd’s doctors do not believe Mr. Todd is a threat to himself or others at the present time,” Pierce said. “Incarceration would only exacerbate Mr. Todd’s health and mental health problems.”
Pierce said Todd was not charged with any criminal conduct in the April 12 case but instead taken to a mental health facility.
“Mr. Todd did possess a knife and/or razor blade on that date; but these instruments were in Mr. Todd’s pockets and were not used, brandished or presented in any way as weapons,” Pierce said. Incarcerating Todd before his trial, Pierce said, “would pose the serious risk of over punishing Mr. Todd, even in the event of possible conviction in this matter.”
Todd’s court filing included letters of support from Kristen and Christopher Revels, who pleaded with the judge not to put Todd in jail. They said they were willing to let him move in with them and help him get the treatment he needed.
Kristen Revels wrote that Todd was a combat Marine in Afghanistan who developed PTSD as a result of seeing friends blown up in front of him and witnessing their deaths.
“Unfortunately, due to the behaviors John had in trying to cope with these traumas he was discharged, other than honorably,” she wrote. “Instead of his command or supervisor reaching out and ensuring he had the support he needed after returning from combat, they tossed him out and stripped him of the benefits he needed to get the care and treatment that would aid him in healing.”
In recent months, Kristen Revels said, Todd had finally been able to start receiving assistance from the VA. “However, he did not, nor has he had the support system around him needed to heal and thrive,” she said.
She said she and her husband, both military veterans, also had experienced PTSD from combat and “we have an amazing VA that has done wonders in learning to cope and heal from our trauma.”
“John will be employed by my husband and closely supervised, he will have the ability to get to and from appointments needed to continue treatment for his PTSD correlated to his military service while in the United States Marine Corps,” Revels said.
“Incarceration at this time in John’s mental health treatment would be a complete disservice to him as a veteran who was disabled due to his service.”
In a motion filed Tuesday morning, Pierce said the Revels have a roughly two-acre farm where they raise chickens, goats and pigs. The property includes an auto body shop, where Todd would work, he said, and the local Veterans Administration and the South Carolina pre-trial services staff would provide treatment and supervision.
“Most of all, this would provide a strong separation from all of the influences, people, memories, or the like that could hinder his healing,” Pierce said. “It would provide a fresh venue for a fresh start.”
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