WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKRN) — A district judge in Washington, D.C. is blocking the release of an accused rioter that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
(Courtesy: Metro Nashville Police Department)
Lisa Eisenhart, mother of ‘Zip Tie Guy’ Eric Munchel, was initially cleared to be released by a lower district court judge. On Tuesday, however, Judge Beryl Howell said that Eisenhart must remain in custody ahead of more court cases and be transferred by U.S. Marshals to Washington.
In addition, the same court stepped in to prevent Munchel’s release, and ordered Munchel to also be brought to Washington.
U.S. District Attornies in Washington made an emergency appeal to stop the decision made by Middle Tennesse Magistrate judge to allow Eisenhart to be released at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“There is no release condition or combination of release conditions that will reasonably assure the community’s safety or the defendant’s return to court. This Court should stay the Middle District of Tennessee Magistrate Judge’s release order, and, after a hearing, order the defendant detained pending a trial,” the stay motion said in part.
Federal investigators say 56-year-old Eisenhart of Woodstock, GA was taken into custody by FBI agents in Nashville on charges relating to the riots at the Capitol.
An arrest affidavit says Eisenhart and her son Munchel agreed to enter the U.S. Capitol without lawful authority at the time when Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. As Congress was certifying the results, Eisenhart and Munchel knowingly and willfully joined a mob of individuals to forcibly enter the Capitol “with the intent to cause a civil disturbance designed to impede, disrupt and disturb the orderly conduct of business by the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.”
Eisenhart is charged with conspiring to violate federal statutes.
Munchel was arrested Sunday, January 10 in Nashville and charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Before his actions at the Capitol, he was terminated from his job at Kid Rock’s Bar in 2020.
Photos believed to be of Munchel show a man inside the U.S Capitol carrying plastic restraints or “zip ties”, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, likely to record the events of that day as they transpired.
