WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington D.C., ruled Tuesday that the alleged leader of the Kansas City-area chapter of the Proud Boys should remain in custody until his trial on charges arising from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said William Chrestman, 47, of Olathe, should be taken from Kansas to Washington, D.C., to await trial on conspiracy and several other charges.
Howell’s ruling overturns an order last week from U.S. Magistrate Judge James O’Hara in Kansas that Chrestman should be freed while awaiting trial. Government attorneys quickly filed an appeal after O’Hara’s ruling.
Chrestman’s attorneys had argued that former President Donald Trump gave the mob “explicit permission and encouragement” to attack the Capitol, suggesting those who obeyed him had “a viable defense against criminal liability.”
Five other members of the Kansas City-area Proud Boys have been charged for their actions in the riot. They are Christopher Charles Kuehn, Olathe, Kansas; Louis Enrique Colon, of Blue Springs, Missouri; Ryan Ashlock, of Gardner, Kansas; and Felicia and Cory Konold, who live in the Tucson, Arizona, area.
