Capitol riot defendant jailed over alleged threats against Supreme Court justice and other officials

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Nevada man awaiting trial on charges that he stormed the U.S. Capitol has been jailed after he allegedly made threats directed at Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other public officials.

Bradley Scott Nelson's “escalating rhetoric” is grounds for keeping him detained until a hearing next week, a federal magistrate judge in Maryland ruled Tuesday.

In July, U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed to revoke Nelson's pretrial release and issued a warrant for his arrest. Bates is scheduled to preside over a hearing next Wednesday on whether to keep Nelson detained until his trial on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

Magistrate Judge Charles Austin's order outlines the threats that Nelson is accused of making this year, in social media posts and other statements.

Nelson last month allegedly posted an image of Attorney General Merrick Garland with apparent crosshairs drawn on Garland's head. Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Garland, is prosecuting Trump in an election interference case in Washington and a classified documents case in Florida.

In June, Nelson allegedly threatened Barrett approximately one hour after the Supreme Court issued a ruling limiting the application of a federal obstruction law used to charge hundreds of Capitol riot defendants as well as Trump. Barrett cast a dissenting vote in that case. Nelson said he hoped that somebody would cut her throat “from ear to ear,” according to the magistrate's order.

In February, Nelson allegedly posted an image of New York Attorney General Letitia James with crosshairs on her head and he profanely expressed a desire to see her “head explode, or at least the back of her head blowout.” That same month, a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in penalties in a civil fraud case brought by James' office.

Nelson, a long-haul truck driver, also is accused of posting videos in which he expressed hatred for two FBI agents assigned to his Jan. 6 case.

“The government describes Nelson as becoming so ‘verbally combative and confrontational’ towards one agent that a deputy United States Marshal escorted the agent to their car due to safety concerns,” Austin wrote in his order.

An attorney who represents Nelson in his Capitol riot case declined to comment.

Nelson’s jury trial is scheduled to start Dec. 10. He was arrested in March 2023 on misdemeanor charges, including disorderly conduct. Surveillance videos captured Nelson in the mob of rioters who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to an FBI affidavit.