LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge has denied bail for a 60-year-old Arkansas man who posed for photos with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Chief Judge Beryl Howell said Richard Barnett’s behavior was “brazen, entitled, and dangerous,” and called him “one of the stars of this assault,” during a hearing via videoconference Thursday.
Barnett is charged with entering a restricted building while carrying a dangerous weapon; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and theft of public money, property or records. If convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
Barnett was armed with a stun gun when he joined the mob that forced entry into the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. He entered Pelosi’s office and posed for pictures with his feet propped up on her desk.
“The government has presented overwhelming evidence that this defendant, Richard Barnett, enthusiastically participated in this act of assaulting the Capitol and disrupting the democratic process,” Howell said according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “What happened on that day at the U.S. Capitol is criminal activity that is destined to go down in the history books of this country.”
Videos and photos from inside the Capitol showed Barnett was carrying a ZAP Hike ’N Strike 950,000 Volt Stun Gun Walking Stick that he had bought at Bass Pro Shop in Rogers, prosecutors said.
The FBI found the packaging for the stun gun at Barnett’s home near Gravette, but not the weapon itself.
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