Judge Denies Capitol Rioter’s Request To Travel To Jamaica

Anthony Williams, one of the rioters in the Capitol riot last January, has requested to travel to Negril, Jamaica to see his girlfriend’s family. Williams said the couple has been together for over a year and that he would be staying with his girlfriend’s father during the visit. He also noted that he would be spending time working with a local nonprofit, St. Anthony’s Kitchen.

Williams’ pretrial officer approved the trip, but Chief Judge Beryl Howell adamantly denied the request.

“Although such a meeting may be an important step in the defendant’s personal relationship,” Howell’s response read. “(The) defendant surrendered his entitlement to unfettered international travel when, also ‘more than a year’ ago, on December 30, 2020, he allegedly announced his intent to ‘Storm the Swamp’… and one week later, on January 6, 2021, followed through by joining a mob at the Capitol that, in his words, ‘took [that] f***ing building.'”

Howell also cited an FBI report that documented Williams as calling the January 6 Capitol attack “the proudest day of my life.”

Williams is facing multiple charges such as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Defendants are normally under some type of travel restriction, and it is not unusual for a defendant to ask for permission to go on vacation while awaiting their trial. Most judges don’t have a problem with allowing their defendants to leave unless they’re seen as a flight risk. In dealing with Capitol rioters, the responses have been different. One rioter was allowed to visit Mexico just a month after the attack for a “work-related bonding retreat,” but another Capitol rioter, Troy Williams, was denied the opportunity to travel to get married in his fiance’s home country, Peru.