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FEDERAL COURT, July 16, updated below -- On July 16, after months of public access to the Capitol Breach criminal proceedings in the U.S. Court for the District of the District of Columbia, DDC Judge Randolph D. Moss issued a minute order that there would be no public access call-in to his July 19 sentencing of defendant Paul Hodgkins.

  Inner City Press immediately wrote to Chambers formally requesting that the call-in line be maintained / restored: (and, podcast here).

Re: Press and Public Access via call-in audio line for first Capitol Breach felony sentencing in US v. Hodgkins, 21-cr-188 (RDM)

Dear Judge Moss:     This concerns the abrupt curtailment of press and public access via call-in audio line included in your Minute Order issued earlier today in the above-captioned felony criminal case, for the Capitol Riots.   

This is a formal request that you not put an end to public access such as existed for more than a year, and at every previous stage of this particularly important case.  

 To put this request in context, I am a journalist based at the Southern District of New York courthouse but who has been covering the Capitol Breach cases, mostly in the District for the District of Colombia, since January 2021. See, e.g., January 10, 2021, Seattle Times, "Seattle man charged with assaulting a federal officer at U.S. Capitol siege, "Leffingwell’s attorney said in court that he intended to return to Seattle, and the magistrate judge ordered him to stay away from Washington, D.C., according to reporting by Inner City Press journalist Matthew Russell Lee," here.

   The January 6 defendants come from all over the country, and it is important that their neighbors and local media in their communities continue to have access to these proceedings. Be aware that Federal criminal proceedings all over the country are still allowing remote access. See, only yesterday, July 15, Daily Mail (UK), "While appearing in a California court on Thursday, Jordan reportedly agreed to face charges in the Southern District of New York and he was ordered to be released on a $150,000 bond, according to the Twitter account Inner City Press.  An Assistant U.S. Attorney told the court that a case agent had confirmed that none of the charges involved minors, Inner City Press reported," here.

  Even for those physically in DC, many either will not or even cannot access the overflow room to which your Minute Order refers. Given the exclusion and limitation on transparency that the abrupt discontinuance of call-in audio access represents, what justifies it?    This is a formal request for call-in audio access, as before, to the July 19 sentencing in the above captioned case, and to other Capital Breach cases.

Full letter on Inner City Press' DocumentCloud here.

Update: mere hours later, Judge Moss' law clerk emailed Inner City Press this updated order: "MINUTE ORDER as to PAUL ALLARD HODGKINS (1): Earlier today the Court issued a Minute Order indicating that, in light of the ability of the public to access proceedings in this matter in-person pursuant to In re: Updated Access Restrictions and Masking Protocols During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Standing Order 21-42 (BAH) (July 15, 2021), the public dial-in would not be available for the hearing scheduled for July 19, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Minute Order (July 16, 2021). The Court has since heard from at least one member of the press who indicated that some individuals may not be able to access the courtroom or the overflow courtroom due to health and safety concerns presented by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, including the need for social distancing in the courtrooms. Having conferred with Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell, in light of the significant limits on access to the courtroom due to the ongoing pandemic, and pursuant to the temporary exception approved by the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference to the prohibition on broadcasting of proceedings in federal district courts in Volume 10, Chapter 4 of the Guide to Judiciary Policy, it is hereby ORDERED that the public dial-in shall be made available for the hearing scheduled for July 19, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. Signed by Judge Randolph D. Moss on 07/16/2021." Inner City Press has thanked both. 

Previously in DDC on July 13, months after the DC Circuit's decision in US v. Munchel, DDC Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey had before him Capitol breach defendant Robert Morss - and his parents.

  Both parents testified under oath, about a road trip with Robert and his substitute teaching after graduating from Penn State. The US brought up new text messages about a tactical vest that carried armored plates. Morss and his lawyer will get that, and redacted into the docket, then reconvene. Inner City Press live tweeted it here.

  Now on July 14, Magistrate Judge Harvey continued the hearing, but there were more questions about videos that the US Attorney's Office has not provided even to the court, while withholding them from the public. Inner City Press live tweeted it here:

We will have more on this.

Inner City Press live tweeted Riley June Williams on January 25, here. 

  From January 22, song here: Thread here.

 Inner City Press' John Earle Sullivan song on SoundCloud here. 

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