United States v. Padilla

538 F.Supp.3d 32

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Joseph Lino PADILLA, also known as "Jose Padilla," Defendant.

Crim. No. 21-214 (JDB)

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

Signed May 4, 2021

Puja Bhatia, Assistant U.S. Attorney, DOJ-USAO, Washington, DC, for United States of America.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

JOHN D. BATES, United States District Judge

Defendant Joseph Lino Padilla is charged via indictment with ten felony and two misdemeanor offenses based on his participation in the events at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The government has proffered video evidence showing that, over the span of three hours, Padilla committed three separate assaults on law enforcement officers, two of which involved the use of dangerous weapons. Padilla's statements on social media also demonstrate that he expected violence might occur on January 6 and that he called for increased violence in the wake of those events. Padilla appeared before Magistrate Judge Faruqui on March 29, 2021 and was ordered detained pending trial. Padilla now asks this Court to revoke that order and place him on pretrial release under strict conditions.

The government has sought to detain Padilla based on both dangerousness and risk of flight. Although the government has not presented sufficient proof that Padilla poses a flight risk, the Court finds that the government has established, by clear and convincing evidence, that Padilla presents an articulable prospective threat to public safety that cannot be mitigated by any combination of release conditions. For the following reasons, then, the Court will deny Padilla's motion to revoke his detention order.

Background ¹

Padilla is a forty-year-old resident of Cleveland, Tennessee, and veteran of the Iraq War. Def.’s Mot. to Revoke Det. Order ("Def.’s Mot.") [ECF No. 15] at 5, 7. On January 6, 2021, he actively participated in an attempt to gain entry into the U.S. Capitol in a self-professed effort to stop the U.S. Congress from certifying the vote count of the Electoral College for the 2020 presidential election. Statement of Facts ("SOF") [ECF No. 1-1] at 1, 9.

Two-and-a-half weeks prior, Padilla messaged another user on Facebook: "Honestly I don't think anything less than taking DC with an a [sic] heavily armed protest is the only thing that will work. Remind them We The People are in charge, not the deepstate." May 3, 2021 Hr'g ("H'rg") Ex. 10. When the user responded, "[y]ou gonna pack?"—which this Court interprets in context to mean "pack" a firearm—Padilla replied, "[o]nly if I can find an organized group who is as well" because "[i]f people straggle in in ones and twos, cops can arrest anyone who is packing." See Hr'g Ex. 11. Padilla added: "Might just have to fight Proud Boys style." Id. The following day, Padilla messaged: "All I can say is that this is the tipping point. Take a weapon, I plan on buying a rifle in the next couple days. If sh*t kicks off you'll upgrade your weapon." Hr'g Ex. 12.

The video footage from January 6 of Padilla begins at approximately 1:31 p.m. when he approaches a metal barricade positioned in front of a line of Metropolitan Police Department officers guarding entry onto the Capitol grounds. SOF at 3. He is wearing a blue jacket, jeans, and a black backpack, and has a scuba mask over his eyes. Id. After Padilla verbally engages with officers for several seconds, an officer pushes Padilla back with a baton. Id. at 4; Raw Footage of the Capitol Yesterday – This is What Really Happened, YouTube (Jan. 7, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zyjCvDN4Ig&t=3145s ("YouTube Video #1") (Mins. 4:20–4:43). Padilla steps back up to the barricade moments later and verbally engages with another officer. YouTube Video #1 (Mins. 4:44–5:16). Padilla refers to several officers as "f**king oathbreakers," Hr'g Ex. 1, and tells one officer that he is "defending a machine that doesn't even f**king care about you, man, but if you let us in there that machine will be gone and we will f**king protect you people," Hr'g Ex. 2.

At approximately 1:37 p.m., Padilla places his hands on the barricade and says to the police line: "Ya'll beat me, ya'll tased me, and I ain't stoppin’. You understand?" Hr'g Ex. 3. About a minute later, Padilla starts pushing the metal barricade into the line of police officers using both hands and shouts: "Push! Push! F**king push! F**king push!" YouTube Video #1 (Mins. 8:09–8:25); Hr'g Ex. 4. No one else appears to join in. See Hr'g Ex. 4. After officers remove Padilla's scuba mask, deploy baton strikes, and shove him backward, he steps away. SOF at 4. Shortly thereafter, other members of the crowd begin moving a large sign with wheels and a metal frame toward the barricade. Id. at 5. Padilla grabs onto the sign with his right hand in an effort to ram it against the barricade. Id. An officer tries to push Padilla to loosen his grip, but he does not let go of the sign for several seconds. See Hr'g Ex. 6. The barricade appears to fall to the ground soon after, and the crowd begins advancing forward. See id.

Three hours later, at around 4:47 p.m, Padilla is captured on video outside the archway to the Lower West Terrace entrance to the Capitol, where another set of officers is standing guard. SOF at 6; Indictment [ECF No. 6] at 3. Padilla remains some distance away from the archway as adjacent rioters are shown striking the officers with sticks and throwing various objects at them. SOF at 6; January 6, 2021 Capitol Insurrection Violence Against Police, YouTube (Jan. 12, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBIg2s_B0IY ("YouTube Video #2") (Mins. 2:36–2:45). Padilla then cocks back a pole that he has been holding and throws it at the mass of officers in the archway. SOF at 6–8; YouTube Video #2 (Mins. 2:46–2:50). The pole appears to hit an officer before sliding to the ground. YouTube Video #2 (Mins. 2:46–2:50). Padilla remains in the same spot for another minute as other individuals around him continue to assault police. Id. (Mins. 2:50–3:46).

On January 7, 2021, Padilla posted to Facebook:

There's a lot of memes and posts flying around saying that the people who were fighting last night were Antifa provacateurs [sic] etc. I just want to say that as a first hand observer of every point of last night, that it was not Antifa. They were Patriots who were trying to Restore the Republic after being attacked by cops, who struck first. Even those who broke the windows next to the doorway to the Capitol were Patriots trying to find a way to turn the Flanks of the cops.

SOF at 8. Padilla also sent a Facebook message to another user stating: "Yeah I'm proud of what I did yesterday. Its [sic] guns next, that's the only way." Hr'g Ex. 17.

The following day, Padilla posted a link on his Facebook to a twenty-one-second video titled "Just after we stormed the 2nd tier of the Capitol." SOF at 8. The caption to the Facebook post read: "Most Beautiful thing I saw in DC on Wednesday." Id. A voice off-screen is shouting "let's go" and "come on." See Gov't’s Mem. in Opp'n to Def.’s Mot. to Revoke Det. Order ("Gov't’s Opp'n") [ECF No. 20] at 4.

From January 7 to January 18, Padilla also posted a number of comments in chats on the website thedonald.win under the username "Ghost_Soul167." SOF at 9; see also Hr'g Exs. 13–16. The Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") linked this username to Padilla because he had used the same username for other social media accounts and the operator of the username posted biographical and location information that was "identical" to Padilla's. SOF at 9. The comments included:

After I had my right hand knuckles and ring finger crushed for just talking to an officer I knew was a soldier and reminding him of his duty to refuse unlawful orders, I got pissed, and so did many others. That's when we started pushing.

I was right there. I have the wounds to prove it. I pushed the rails, I pushed the stairs, and then pushed the doorway. I was beaten unconscious twice, sprayed more times than I care to count, received strikes from batons that should have been lethal (Multiple temple and carotid strikes) except that God was on my side.

Some chode had stalled everyone out saying he had an "announcement" that amounted to "if we quit pushing the cops will quit beating us[.]" Basically surrender. If that asshat hadn't stalled our momentum, the cops wouldn't have been able to reinforce their position and we would have occupied the Capitol.

If we could have occupied the Capitol, we could have invoked the right given to us in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.... We would have been in the Seat of Power. All we would need to do is declare our grievances with the government and dissolve the legislature, and replace it with Patriots who were there. Then simply re-adopt the Constitution with amendments added to secure future Federal elections.

What happened Wednesday is what needs to be done again and again. I'm not talking about those b*tches that were just let in, I'm talking about those of us who got pissed when the cops starting bashin [sic] hands and pepper spraying people who were only talking and shouting.

Don't you realize it yet? The war has been upon us for years and we've just been wringing hands about it. After the events of the 6th, I'm done being passive.

SOF at 9; Gov't’s Opp'n at 4; Hr'g Exs. 13–16.

In the wake of January 6, two witnesses identified Padilla in video footage circulating online and on television. SOF at 2. Law enforcement attempted to interview Padilla on January 14; he responded by stating "I do not answer questions." Id. at 9. On February 23, Padilla was arrested at his home following a criminal complaint. Arrest Warrant Return [ECF No. 10]. Pursuant to a search warrant, law enforcement recovered the blue jacket and black backpack that he had worn to the Capitol. Gov't’s Opp'n at 5. His wife informed law enforcement that Padilla brought goggles with him to attend the protests in Washington, D.C. in case he got near...