A member of the Proud Boys has disappeared ahead of his sentencing on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to an arrest warrant unsealed on Friday.

Christopher Worrell was convicted earlier this year on seven counts related to his conduct during the insurrection, including assaulting a group of Capitol Police officers with pepper spray and lying to investigators.

He was set to be sentenced on Friday, with prosecutors seeking 14 years in prison. However, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday, and his sentencing hearing was cancelled on Wednesday, court records show.

  • Nougat@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Why would you release someone convicted of a violent crime pending sentencing? I thought it was standard to keep such a person in detention, and include time served in the calculation of how much more time they need to spend.

    Oh wait, people with radically insane right wing politics get a pass, I forgot.

    • Bramble Dog@infosec.pub
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      1 year ago

      From the government’s perspective? There is often value in releasing the person. They almost never realize their phone lines are tapped and the first thing they do is run to their friends and start incriminating them further.

      There is often the issue that these right wing cells are without their knowledge governmental “stay behind” cells who are operating somewhat under the jurisdiction of factions of the US government who are legally barred from operating clandestine missions on US borders.

      In terms of the Proud Boys, their leader is a journalist who was officially on the Canadian pay roll before they became a fascist paramilitary leader. Seeing that immigrants who are members of political extremist groups are barred from having permanent residence in the US, while registered spies are not. These are things we have to speculate on, unfortunately.

    • Telorand@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      It all has to do with evaluating flight risk, with his lawyers asserting a reasonable belief to the judge that he’s not one (prosecutors likewise can make their own recommendations). Bail can be denied, but from what I understand from legal podcasts, most cases have release conditions.

      The fact that he skipped town means his lawyer might get in some trouble, but it almost certainly means this guy is royally fucked when they find him. It doesn’t look good to juries when you run away.

    • ImFresh3x@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Apparently he had an injury that wasn’t being treated. Not saying he deserved to be released, but if our jails weren’t so fucked there’d have never been the appearance of a reason for the court to give him house arrest until sentencing, citing of civil rights abuse.

      That said, they’ll find this guy quickly. These days being on the run from the feds when you’re publicly known is really impossible.

  • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have zero doubt that a fellow Proud Boy working in law enforcement or some other government department helped him escape.

    There are a terrifying number of these clowns working within government as well as in the military and law enforcement and it seems like little is being done to weed them out.

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Worse, they’ve been willfully infiltrating those jobs and recruiting within them. There needs to be nationwide police reform; the days where state-level policies and regulation was good enough are long past. Same for schools, healthcare, and insurance.

  • CapgrasDelusion@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Worrell had been on house arrest in Florida since November 2021.

    Well, apparently not. Good call with the “house arrest” there fellas.

  • Pratai
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    1 year ago

    A cowardly conservative among the ranks of the ®acists? Say it ain’t so!

  • MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    If he was stupid enough to participate in the January 6 insurrection, he’ll be stupid enough to get caught.

    Additionally, if there’s ever a reward for turning him in, I’d fully expect that the least stupid of his associates is going to get a few bucks in their pocket, and a clean break from the shit show.

  • Szymon
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    1 year ago

    Is this the guy that was shoving dildos up his ass to prove he wasn’t gay?

    I guess it’s a trick question, it’s all the Proud Boys who do that.

    • Fisk400@feddit.nu
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      1 year ago

      That’s Gavin something. He is the founder but I don’t think he is involved in the proud boys enough anymore to catch proper charges. He is either too Nazi or not Nazi enough for the current organization, I am not sure which.

  • Gameboy Homeboy @lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    They should be treating these terrorists like we treated members of ISIS, etc. Terrorists shouldn’t have the option of fleeing because they should be imprisoned ahead of the trial for this exact reason.