Judge denies U.S. Capitol riot suspect Doug Jensen's new request to be released from jail

A Des Moines man accused of playing a high-profile role in 2021's Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot will remain in custody after a Washington, D.C. judge rejected his second request for pretrial release.

Doug Jensen, 42, was arrested days after he was captured on video pursuing a police officer inside the Capitol building, and has remained in custody for much of the past year. In July, Judge Timothy Kelly granted Jensen's request to be released to "home incarceration," but barely a month later, Kelly revoked that order after finding Jensen had violated the rules of his release.

Kelly had agreed to release Jensen, an avowed believer in the QAnon online conspiracy theory, on the condition that he not use the internet or any internet-connected devices. When a pretrial service officer arrived for an initial home check-in, however, Jensen was reportedly found to be watching election-related conspiracy videos on a social media app using a contraband phone.

For subscribers:Who is Doug Jensen? Tracing a QAnon believer's path to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot

In December, Jensen tried again. In his motion for reconsideration, Jensen acknowledged he "let the court down" by seeking out "news outlets that some may find puzzling," but also argued the restrictions were unjust and should not have been imposed.

"To ban his access to news outlets and information he apparently feels a need to consume is not only difficult to enforce, it also has an uncomfortable ring of Totalitarianism," attorney Christopher Davis wrote on Jensen's behalf.

Prosecutors countered that Jensen himself had proposed those restrictions, and had pitched the ban as something that would "eliminate concerns over influence by the internet."

In his order Wednesday, Kelly agreed.

Opinion: How do you send a message of unity when it was fellow Americans who carried out the Capitol riot?

Kelly wrote that parties may seek reconsideration to correct errors of the court, but not as “a vehicle for relitigating issues on which the court already ruled." Jensen, he wrote, did not raise new arguments, or show that the court's decision was based on a misunderstanding or legal error.

Likewise, Kelly denied Jensen's request to modify his previous conditions of release. Even if the issue had been ripe for review, Kelly wrote, "that (Jensen) seeks to modify conditions that he himself proposed — after violating them — only underscores the Court’s conclusion that he is unlikely to abide by them."

Kelly's order means Jensen will remain in custody at the D.C. jail while his case moves forward. Jensen faces seven charges from the riot, and has filed a motion to dismiss one of them, arguing that the federal law governing "obstructing an official proceeding" is too vague or overbroad to apply to the conduct of the rioters. Kelly has scheduled a hearing on that issue in February. No trial date has yet been set.

Jensen is one of six Iowans charged in the riot, among more than 700 nationwide. One Iowan, Daryl Johnson of St. Ansgar, last week pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, while the other cases remain pending.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.