National Security

56 former prosecutors write to appeals court in support of bail for lawyers accused of throwing molotov cocktail at police vehicle

By Shayna Jacobs
June 16, 2020 at 10:04 p.m. EDT

NEW YORK — Over 50 former federal prosecutors are urging an appeals court to cast aside the government's ongoing detention bid for a pair of activists — attorneys by trade — charged in a molotov cocktail attack on a marked police car, on a violence-ridden night of protests after the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman, both lawyers, had been freed on home detention, on $250,000 bonds, collateralized by family and friends, until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit revoked their bond on June 5 pending a decision on whether bail should be reinstated following a strong push by the government on the basis that the defendants were a continual danger to society. They were taken back into custody that day.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York has twice appealed a June 1 bail decision made by a magistrate judge, arguing throughout that Mattis and Rahman could not be trusted to remain at liberty.

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Shayna Jacobs
Shayna Jacobs is a federal courts and law enforcement reporter on the national security team at The Washington Post, where she covers the Southern and Eastern districts of New York. Follow https://twitter.com/shaynajacobs