Nashville – A federal judge on Sunday blocked the release of a Tennessee man who authorities say wore flexible plastic handcuffs during the riot in the Capitol. US District Judge Beryl A. Howell of the District of Columbia also ordered that he be taken to Washington for further action.
Howell set aside an injunction issued Friday by a Tennessee judge regarding the release of Eric Munchel, from Nashville, paving the way for Munchel’s release as early as Monday. Howell suspended the lower court’s order pending a review.
During the destruction at the Capitol, two rioters were spotted wearing zip ties. Munchel is called “the zip tie guy” on social media.
Following testimony at a detention hearing on Friday, US magistrate judge Jeffrey Frensley for Tennessee’s Middle District decided that Munchel was not a flight risk and was not causing harm to the public.
Federal prosecutors have argued that Munchel’s crimes are serious enough to warrant his detention pending trial to ensure the safety of the community.
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According to court records, an FBI search of Munchel’s home revealed the tactical equipment he was wearing during the January 6 storming of the Capitol, five pairs of plastic handcuffs, multiple weapons, hundreds of ammunition and a drum-style magazine.
Munchel is charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol, conspiracy and civil disorder. If convicted, he can wait 20 years.
Munchel has been in custody since his arrest on January 10, when he turned himself over to authorities.
In a memorandum in support of detention, prosecutors said Munchel traveled to Washington with his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, who has also been charged with the Capitol uprising. The two attended Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in which the former president reiterated his baseless claims about electoral fraud and urged the crowd to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Court documents allege that Munchel entered the Senate chamber just minutes after the chamber was evacuated.
Munchel “saw himself as a revolutionary, in the form of those who overthrew the British government during the American Revolution,” court documents said. He was “dressed for battle” with “combat boots, military fatigues, a tactical vest, gloves and a cover that covered his entire face except his eyes,” the documents say. He also wore a tranquilizer gun on his hip and attached a cell phone to his chest to record events.
WUSA says the urgent appeal of Frensley’s injunction filed by U.S. District of Columbia Attorney Michael Sherwin included an allegation not presented at Friday’s hearing: that Munchel was part of a group that attacked and threatened a Bloomberg reporter which they had falsely identified as being “antifa.”
The appeal argued that, contrary to Frensley’s ruling, Munchel “could not seriously claim that he went to the Capitol on January 6 to protest peacefully or to commit civil disobedience.”
“Instead,” the Justice Department attorneys wrote, “the evidence supports the conclusion that he intended to contribute to chaos, hinder Electoral College certification and spread fear.”