Cole’s attorney Tomas Allen wants to drop the death penalty while the Torrance man is still in custody on charges of trying to kill President Trump.
In a ruling filed Saturday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, public defender AJ Kramer argued that Allen is being punished illegally by continuing to be held in full custody without multiple tests that have found no signs of a suicidal risk.
“Mr. Allen is forced to be escorted into the shower, strip-searched when entering and leaving his cell, and wear a vest with patches on the inside,” Kramer wrote. “These conditions are excessive restrictions on his liberty that serve no practical purpose and deprive Mr. Allen of his dignity while incarcerated.”
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for noon Monday before US District Court Judge Zia M. Faruqui in federal court in Washington. The court document says a representative of the US Department of Corrections will appear at the hearing.
Neither Kramer nor the US Department of Justice responded to emailed questions on Sunday.
In his argument, Kramer cited case law that finds that “if a restriction or condition is not reasonably related to a legal goal—if it is illegal or purposeless,” a court may say that the punishment “can be constitutionally imposed” on a prisoner.
Allen was remanded to the District of Columbia Jail prior to trial after pleading guilty to continued arrest during an April 28 hearing.
According to the motion, Allen is assigned to a “secure cell,” defined as a patched room with constant light, and is required to wear a “straight jacket-like” vest, not to leave the cell without a legal or medical visit and to be searched upon entering and exiting.
During a meal on April 27, Allen was initially advised that he would be in secure custody even though a member of the dining team “did not see any suicidal ideation,” the motion said.
He was re-evaluated on April 28 and, despite the second test finding no suicidal risk factors, he was upgraded to a “suicide watch,” with dimmed lights and no access to prison phones or tablets to communicate with anyone outside the prison, according to the initiative.
Kramer wrote that he visited Allen on April 28 and was assured that he would be placed in general custody on Thursday or Friday. The next day, a third test found no signs of a suicidal risk, but Allen was returned to suicidal steps.
“Although it was less strict than a suicide watch, Mr. Allen was not allowed to call—or visit—anyone outside of his legal team, who had access to a prison tablet, or without official visits or showers—which still had to be escorted—spend time outside of his cell.” Kramer wrote.
As of Saturday, Kramer said he still believes Allen is in the process of killing himself.
Allen is facing a life sentence on a terrorism-related charge of trying to kill Trump. He was also charged with two firearms violations related to his alleged transport of two firearms across state lines while traveling from California to Washington on an Amtrak train, and it is alleged that he discharged one of those firearms – a handgun – during the incident.
Authorities arrested Allen on April 25 after he sped past a US Secret Service checkpoint on the floor above the ballroom where Trump and other administration officials were attending the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner. According to prosecutors, he was armed with a gun, a rifle and various knives. Then he fell to the ground and was locked up.
Trump administration officials who were at the dinner, including Acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche and Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for DC, quickly impeached him – largely based on an email Allen had sent to the family just as he breached the security of the event, which Trump and others called a “manifesto” but was titled “Apology and Explanation.”
