A Jan. 6 insurrectionist decided to represent himself in his bond hearing on Tuesday — and then he reportedly got a little too chatty.
Brandon Fellows is a New York man who’s been charged with obstructing a congressional proceeding and whom the feds say smoked weed in Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-OR) office after busting into the Capitol through a window. He was held in custody for missing a mental health evaluation, allegedly calling a probation officer’s mother and other violations, according to WUSA9.
Per WUSA9, Fellows asked U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden last month if he could be his own legal counsel after spending two weeks reading law books in the jail library. McFadden gave Fellows permission to do so, but warned him “I do not think this is a good idea.”
Fellows went on to talk… a lot.
According to WUSA, the alleged insurrectionist appeared at the hearing Tuesday and told the court about a conversation he’d had with his ex-public defender in which he schemed to have McFadden kicked off the case by putting the judge’s wife’s phone number as his emergency contact — a gambit that Fellows said he had tried at least once before.
The alleged insurrectionist also prattled on about the Taliban, Gitmo, and a lawyer allegedly telling him to wrap his phone in tin foil.
Fellows, speaking under oath, ultimately stated that he had entered the Capitol building through a broken window, described the emergency contact number plot in his previous case, and admitted to skipping mental health and drug evaluations ordered by the court.
McFadden tore into Fellows after the insurrectionist rambled for nearly two hours.
“You’ve admitted to incredible lapses of judgment here on the stand, not least of which was seeking to disqualify a New York state judge,” the judge said. “You’ve admitted to obstruction of justice in that case, and you’ve admitted to what was probably obstruction in this case in trying to have me disqualified, and only Ms. Halverson’s advice stopped you from doing so,” he continued, referring to Fellow’s former public defender.
“You’ve engaged in a pattern of behaviors that shows contempt for the criminal justice system, and I just have no confidence that you will follow my orders if I release you,” McFadden added.
