Pittsburgh – Federal prosecutors appealed on Wednesday the release of a Pennsylvania woman accused of using a large pipe to cut a window in the US Capitol on Jan. 6. and giving directions to fellow insurgents on how to take the building.
A magistrate found that Rachel Marie Powell – who the FBI says is the woman in a pink hat shown in video shouting instructions through a megaphone – poses a “ danger to the community, ” but she can be released on based on a $ 10,000 uncovered bond with house arrest and electronic surveillance.
Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan, judge of the US judge, made the ruling after Powell’s hearing on Tuesday, but delayed her release to give the government time to appeal.
Prosecutors said Powell should stay locked up for the trial.
Powell, a 40-year-old mother of eight from Sandy Lake, is a “ leading participant in the most violent uprising against performing at the US Capitol in more than 200 years “and” fueled a situation threatening the peaceful transfer of power in the United States, “federal prosecutors wrote Wednesday.
Powell’s attorney, Michael Engle, argued in court that Powell has no criminal record, poses no flight risk, and injured no one in the uprising.
An FBI affidavit said that Powell was with a group at the Capitol and gave detailed instructions on the building’s layout, telling rioters to “coordinate together if you are going to take this building.” Powell also noted that they “ have one more. ” window break, ”said the affidavit.
“She was not a spectator; she committed violence and encouraged others to do the same – all aimed at overcoming law enforcement, intimidating government officials and undermining the constitution and the peaceful transfer of presidential power,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
Authorities said a search of Powell’s home revealed several wrecked cell phones and two ‘go bags’, one with ammunition, rope and duct tape and the other with throwing stars, knives and lighters. A bag found in Powell’s car had a tarpaulin, zip fasteners and two loaded magazines for an AK-47 rifle, authorities said.
Powell has been charged with violent entry or disorderly conduct, obstruction, robbing government property, entering a restricted building and being in that building with a dangerous weapon.