Federal prosecutors have appealed a release order for a Mercer County woman accused of using a pipe to smash a window at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and then instructing rioters on how best to take over the building.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Lenihan on Tuesday ordered that Rachel Powell, 40, of Sandy Lake, be released on $10,000 bond and electronic monitoring.
The Pittsburgh U.S. attorney's office had argued that she remain locked up pending trial as a flight risk and danger to the community and asked for a stay of the release order pending an appeal by prosecutors in Washington.
Judge Lenihan granted the request and prosecutors in the District of Columbia filed the appeal Wednesday.
"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," Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi wrote. "This Court should order the defendant detained pending a trial."
Ms. Aloi said Ms. Powell smashed a window, climbed inside, surveyed the scene and then used a bullhorn to tell other rioters how to penetrate the building. Ms. Powell later gave an interview to The New Yorker detailing her actions, knowing that the FBI was looking for her.
She said Ms. Powell also left her children home alone to participate in the riot.
Ms. Powell has eight children, two of whom are adults, and shares custody of the six underage children with her ex-husband. Ms. Aloi said Ms. Powell left the children, ages 4 through 17, unattended when she traveled to the Capitol. Then, on Jan. 30 — the day before the New Yorker story appeared — she dropped off the children at her ex-husband's house with no explanation and no indication of when she would come back, Ms. Aloi said.
At 7 a.m. on Feb. 4, the government contacted Ms. Powell's lawyer, Michael Engle, to say there was a warrant for her arrest and a search warrant for her property. Around midday, Mr. Engle told the FBI that his client was near Harrisburg. She turned herself in to an agent in New Castle that evening but was not in possession of the cell phone she had earlier when she had called her ex-husband, Ms. Aloi said.
During a search of Ms. Powell's house and car, agents said they found several smashed cell phones and what the FBI called "go bags," including one containing loaded magazines for an assault rifle and another that contained Ninja throwing stars and knives.
Ms. Aloi said the "nature of the circumstances of the case are uniquely disturbing" in that Ms. Powell directly encouraged violence and destruction at the Capitol. In addition, she said, the evidence is overwhelming and includes video of Ms. Powell's actions.
Ms. Aloi also said Ms. Powell is a "highly visible figure from the insurrection" and faces substantial prison time if convicted "which incentivizes flight and evading law enforcement — a thought that the defendant already appears to have contemplated by virtue of her leaving her children a second time on January 30, 2021."
Ms. Aloi pointed out that instead of turning herself in, Ms. Powell gave an interview to The New Yorker.
"She did not express remorse," Ms. Aloi wrote. "A search of her residence revealed smashed cell phones, and firearms paraphernalia. Moreover, her attorney proffered during the detention hearing that Powell had asked a friend to hold on to her handgun and AR-15."
While state law may permit Ms. Powell to maintain such an "arsenal," Ms. Aloi wrote, "it nonetheless indicates the continued capacity to carry out the sort of fear and intimidation that took place at the Capitol."
Ms. Aloi said it is "difficult to fathom" a more serious danger to the community.
"It bears repeating that the defendant was a leading participant in the most violent insurrection to occur at the U.S. Capitol in over 200 years," she wrote.
Mr. Engle had not filed his response as of Wednesday afternoon but had previously argued that his client had not injured anyone during the riots and had voluntarily turned herself in once she knew a warrant had been issued for her.
He also said the fact that she gave an interview to The New Yorker indicates that she had no intention of fleeing.
The case is now before Beryl Howell, the chief judge in the District of Columbia.
Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com.
First Published: February 10, 2021, 10:05 p.m.
