A Longview man being held on charges from the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol has been released from pretrial detention after 20 months, in advance of a Nov. 22 hearing to discuss the terms of his release from prison.
Ryan Nichols was ordered released by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan, who has previously repeatedly upheld the detention of the Longview man. Hogan said he still considered Nichols a danger to the community, but that his current incarceration in Rappahannock, Va., has made it impossible for him to access digital evidence in the case he that he needs to prepare for trial in 2023.
The judge rejected prosecutors’ bid to have Nichols transferred to a facility in Lewisburg, Va., saying that facility has experienced similar issues with access to evidence.
Nichols traveled to Washington, D.C., ahead of Jan. 6 with Alex Kirk Harkrider, 34, of Carthage, documents show. Harkrider, who is also facing several charges in connection to the riots, was released in April ahead of trial. He has since successfully petitioned to have his ankle monitor removed twice to travel to Louisiana to help with hurricane relief.
Prosecutors have argued that Nichols viewed the 2020 election as fraudulent and was determined to prevent the congressional certification of the election results by any means necessary.
In Facebook posts prior to Jan. 6, Nichols called people who voted for President Joe Biden “‘true traitor(s) to the country,’ and called for violence against government officials, including President Biden and Vice President Pence.”
Text messages detail some planning for the trip to Washington, D.C., and also included Nichols’ interest in joining nationalist organization The Proud Boys.
“Ryan Nichols stands for violence,” Nichols said in an 11-minute video posted later that evening to Facebook, according to prosecutors. “I fought. I stormed up there against police, and I pushed them back.”
The following day, Nichols said he did “what I felt God told me to do.”