DC judge apologizes to alleged White House correspondents’ dinner shooter for jail treatment

A Washington, D.C., judge on Monday apologized to the suspect who allegedly opened fire during the White House Correspondents’ dinner last month for how he has been treated by authorities in jail.Cole Tomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California, was placed under suicide watch at the D.C. jail because he allegedly told the FBI that he expected to die during the shooting. Suicide watch protocols mandated Allen remain on a 24-hour lockdown in a “safe cell,” with no phone access to call or receive visits from anyone other than his legal team. 
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine claimed that since Allen told investigators he did not expect to survive the alleged attack, he could pose a danger to himself.
Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui rejected the justification for placing Allen under tighter restrictions, claiming that not even defendants arrested for rioting at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were treated as harshly, according to Fox News.
“To me, it’s extremely disturbing that he was put in five-point restraints, a person with no criminal history,” Faruqui said. “It’s troubling. I never heard of one Jan. 6 defendant who was put in five-point restraints or in a safe cell. If the only way to keep him safe is the most punitive thing, that’s a problem. Pardons may erase convictions, but they don’t erase history.”
Faruqui emphasized that Allen is presumed innocent until proven guilty and apologized to the suspect for the jail’s treatment of him.
“What am I to say to Allen that this is going to be a fair process if we’re putting him in a safe cell when he’s not supposed to be in there?” Faruqui said. “At a minimum I should be apologizing to him. We are obligated to make sure he’s taken care of. Mr. Allen, I’m sorry that things have not been the way they are supposed to.”
The judge ordered the jail to change Allen’s accommodations by Tuesday and to give him a Bible as he requested.
“The jail is going to let me know by tomorrow morning about what’s going on with your housing situation,” he said. “If not, I’m going to have more questions for them. We should be able to get you into the medium portion of the jail, with windows.
“Legal visits, ask for legal visits, do not accept that these things are acceptable,” the judge advised. “We will get you the Bible. If we can get someone vegan food, we can get you a Bible, we can make sure you’re not in five-point restraints.”
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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