A member of the anti-government Oath Keeper militia, charged with taking part in storming the Capitol, said he is struggling with "the psychological burdens" of staying in jail as he waits for his trial to begin.
Representatives for Graydon Young, 54, of Englewood in Florida, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson to reconsider a ruling that is set to keep him in prison until the start of his trial, claiming he had a "limited" role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
The government alleged Young and nine other Oath Keepers "planned with each other, and with others known and unknown, to forcibly enter the Capitol," in a second superseding indictment filed earlier this month in Washington D.C.
Young, who served in the U.S. Navy Reserve, said he was "unaware of the organization's (Oath Keepers) nefarious purpose when he joined."
The Southern Poverty Law Center described the Oath Keepers as "one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S." and is "based on a set of baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy the liberties of Americans."
He and the group of nine other Oath Keepers were charged with conspiracy, obstructing official government proceedings, destruction of government property and trespassing. Young was also charged with the corrupt destruction of evidence for deleting his Facebook account following the storming.
Young's lawyer said in a motion, filed on Monday, that the government had limited evidence to hold his client on the charges and claimed the Oath Keeper suffered from the "psychological burdens" of being in jail for the first time.
The motion read: "The psychological burdens of being detained pending trial are very real for Mr. Young. Since he has no previous experience with the criminal justice system, being detained is taking an extremely high toll on his mental well-being.
"Prior to being detained, Mr. Young was a mentally strong and stable person with no history of mental disorders. His current emotional and psychological state is owing entirely to the fact that he has been detained and is unable to rely upon his normal social support systems."
It continued: "Because he is such a strong family man, locking him up away from his wife and children with the prospect of an extremely long period of time before the trial is even scheduled is causing potentially irreparable psychological and emotional damage to Mr. Young."
The Capitol building was stormed by Trump supporters in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election by disrupting the joint session of Congress where members assembled to certify Joe Biden's victory.
On January 6, former President Donald Trump delivered a speech in front of supporters where he repeated unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen from him.
Trump was acquitted of "incitement of insurrection" in connection with the riot at the Capitol, making him the first president in U.S. history to be impeached and cleared twice.
