Conspiracy theories, guns and alleged assaults keep SC alleged Capitol rioter in jail

A federal judge has refused to release on bond a South Carolina man charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, citing the man’s beliefs in false conspiracy theories, his arsenal of guns and his alleged assaults on police during the riot.

“Defendant Nicholas Languerand’s pretrial detention is warranted because he poses a concrete, prospective threat to the safety of the community that cannot be mitigated by any combination of release conditions,” wrote U.S. District Judge John Bates in an opinion issued last week.

Most of the nine people arrested in South Carolina in connection with the Jan. 6 riot face less serious charges than Languerand and have been released on bond, according to court records.

The Jan. 6 riot took place as hundreds of followers of then-President Trump, believing his and others’ false claims that massive election fraud had cost him a victory at the polls, stormed the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying the victory by Joe Biden. More than 100 law officers were injured. Congress halted proceedings for more than five hours.

Languerand, 26, was arrested in April in Little River, north of Myrtle Beach. Originally from Vermont, he had been living in Little River three months. The charges against him include violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting an officer using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and knowingly entering and remaining in restricted government area.

In denying him bond, Bates went into great detail. The judge not only cited evidence gathered by the FBI against Languerand but also compared the defendant’s situation with that of other suspects arrested in connection with the riot.

So far, the FBI has charged more than 570 people from across the country with a range of offenses relating to the breach of the Capitol. Of those 570 defendants, more than 170 — including Languerand — face the most serious charges, which include impeding or assaulting a law officer with a dangerous weapon, according to the U.S. Attorneys office in the District of Columbia.

William Welch III, the lawyer who represents Languerand, could not be reached.

In his 25-page opinion, the judge noted:

▪ Photos and videos show Languerand near the front of a cluster of approximately a dozen individuals fighting with police at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace archway and throwing “multiple objects at the officers trying to hold the archway.” Those objects included a red traffic bollard, a canister, and a “stick-like object” that struck one of the officers, who were trying to keep the rioters out of the Capitol.

▪ Weapons seized belonging to Languerand at his grandparents’ Little River house where he was living included an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, two shotguns, ammunition for these weapons, a pistol case, a tactical vest and brass knuckles.

▪ Material on Languerand’s cellphone linked him to right-wing militias such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters, as well as a notes saying “If you are ok with fraudulently certifying an election to win, then I’m ok with attacking a government building to stop you” and “The FBI should really find a better hobby than intimidating and persecuting the patriots who stood up for their constitutional rights and against the seditious infiltration of the psychopathic criminal mafia into the government that they have sworn to protect.”

In weighing whether to let Languerand out on bond until he stands trial, the judge noted that although the defendant is alleged to have assaulted officers with objects, he did not use objects as dangerous as other defendants are alleged to have used, such as batons, baseball bats, bottles, flagpoles and hockey sticks used by other rioters.

Nor did Languerand appear to play a leadership role, the judge said.

However, choosing to “engage in violence in order to subvert the orderly transition of power” is a major factor in the decision to keep him in jail pending trial the judge wrote.

“Mr. Languerand placed himself among the front ranks of the rioters, violently confronting the police officers seeking to protect members of Congress and secure the Capitol. Mr. Languerand’s actions unmistakably suggest an intent to harm those officers,” the judge wrote. “If any crime establishes danger to the community and a disregard for the rule of law, assaulting a riot-gear-clad police officer does.”

Other troubling factors in Languerand’s case are his past record of threatening conduct in a Vermont domestic case and his fervent dedication to false conspiracy theories, the judge noted.

“Mr. Languerand appears to be a devotee of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and his past conduct demonstrates a preoccupation with false allegations of pedophilia and child sex trafficking,” the judge wrote. “Of course, Mr. Languerand has every right to believe whatever he wants, but he does not have a right to accost and threaten individuals he thinks support pedophilia.”

The judge continued, “In the months preceding Jan. 6th, for instance, Mr. Languerand yell[ed] at [Black Lives Matter] protesters about pedophilia and left a menacing voicemail for a Morristown, VT, city employee about purported pedophilic symbols on road barriers, ‘telling the employee that (Languerand) will be watching [him] and knows what he looks like’.”

Actions demonstrating a “willing[ness] to allow . . . personal beliefs [to] override the rule of law” weigh against Languerand, the judge wrote.

The judge also noted that in the past 18 months, police have received at least half a dozen calls regarding Languerand’s “belligerent and threatening behavior,” and those incidents indicate a tendency toward violent confrontation, the judge said.

Moreover, Languerand has expressed no remorse for his actions on Jan. 6 and has called those who participated in the storming of the Capitol “patriots,” the judge said.

The number and type of weapons found in Languerand’s room where he was living in Little River illustrate “the magnitude of the threat posed by his willingness to promote his beliefs through violent confrontation,” the judge wrote.

Languerand’s conduct on Jan. 6 was not an aberration, the judge said; it was the culmination of a troubling pattern of confrontational behavior suggesting an “inability (or refusal) to exercise his independent judgment and conform his behavior to the law,” the judge wrote.

Although Languerand’s lawyer had argued at an earlier hearing that the defendant was willing to abide by numerous conditions to make bond, the judge said “Languerand’s negative opinion of police and of the FBI is readily apparent, and, if anything, the law enforcement response to January 6th has only deepened his feelings of hostility, particularly toward federal law enforcement.”

Taking everything into consideration, the judge said, he is “not willing, especially in light of defendant’s pattern of disrespect toward law enforcement, to stake the very real community safety concerns posed by Mr. Languerand on his word that he will obey restrictive conditions of pre-trial release.”

Eight other South Carolinians face charges in the Jan. 6 riot. They are:

▪ Andrew Hatley, charged with uttering threatening, or abusive language, or engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the grounds or in any of the Capitol buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress. He has agreed to plead guilty at a Sept. 14 hearing to some of the charges against him in connection with the riot.

▪ A Hanahan couple, John Getsinger Jr. and Stacie Hargis-Getsinger, were arraigned in Charleston before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker.

▪ Elias Irizarry, 19, a freshman at the Citadel military college in Charleston.

▪ Elliott Bishai, 20, a York County man.

▪ William Norwood III, of Greer, who is charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, obstruction of justice and theft of government property.

▪ George Tenney III, 34, of Anderson, charged with interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, obstruction of justice, knowingly entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and demonstrating in a Capitol building.

▪ Derek Gunby, 41, of Anderson County, charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds.

This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 12:38 PM with the headline "Conspiracy theories, guns and alleged assaults keep SC alleged Capitol rioter in jail."