Northern California man charged in Jan. 6 Capitol Riot to remain jailed pending trial
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., on Friday ordered a Sacramento-area man charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot to remain jailed pending trial, declaring that Sean Michael McHugh posed a danger to the community because of his actions that day and his long, criminal history.
“The defendant enthusiastically participated in a violent assault on the Capitol, and encouraged this lawlessness with abandon,” Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell declared after a 90-minute hearing.
The judge found that McHugh deployed bear spray toward a line of police officers trying to keep rioters from breaking into the Capitol, where members of Congress were meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Howell said McHugh was a “de facto leader” of the mob who used a bull horn to urge rioters forward and engaged in back and forth chants of “Whose house, our house” to rile up the crowd and assist in the insurrection that led to the takeover of the Capitol.
“Not just satisfied with leading the chants and taunting the officers, Mr. McHugh encouraged the crowd to advance on the police lines..., shouting, ‘C’mon you guys, bring it, let’s go,’” the judge said.
She found that although McHugh himself did not make it into the building, his actions “show a clear disregard for the safety of others, particularly law enforcement.”
“The weight of the evidence is strong and strongly favors detention,” Howell said. “The government has 12 different video clips from a variety of angles showing his actions that day.”
McHugh, who faces felony counts and other charges that could send him to prison for up to 20 years, is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail, and Howell ordered him transferred to Washington to be held without bail pending trial.
The 34-year-old Auburn man was arrested May 27, and Federal Public Defender Maria Jacob had argued that he could be released pending trial under a set of conditions, including GPS monitoring.
But the government objected, citing a lengthy criminal history that includes driving under the influence, rape, vandalism, trespassing and multiple instances of failure to appear.
Howell agreed, noting that McHugh has 10 convictions between 2006 and 2018, that he was seen driving without a license while under FBI surveillance and that he has repeated probation violations and failures to appear in court.
“I’ll put my cards on the table, I find that very troubling,” the judge said, calling his history a “red flag.”
Howell also rejected Jacob’s argument that the Jan. 6 event was a one-time incident, noting that former President Trump, who has been accused of inciting the mob that day, was quoted as saying Thursday that he believes the election was stolen.
And she noted that McHugh’s political beliefs were so strong that he ignored his girlfriend’s advice to stay home rather than travel to Washington. Instead, the judge noted, McHugh, who owes $40,000 in child support payments, was able to find the money to skip work and fly to Washington for the rally.
McHugh also paid for two other individuals to fly there for the “Stop the Steal” rally, prosecutors say. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Strain did not identify those individuals during Friday’s hearing, noting that the investigation is continuing.
McHugh is one of four Sacramento-area defendants charged in the Capitol Riot, but is the only one still in custody. He is scheduled for his next hearing in court in Washington on July 9.
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Northern California man charged in Jan. 6 Capitol Riot to remain jailed pending trial."