Zip-Tie Guy, and His Mommy, Allowed to Go Back Home Before Capitol Riot Trial
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The man who became notorious as “zip-tie guy” after chilling photographs from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol showed him clutching plastic handcuffs will be freed from jail ahead of his trial. Eric Munchel, 30, and his mom, Lisa Marie Eisenhart, 57, are both accused of trespassing at the Capitol and obstructing the confirmation of President Joe Biden’s victory. According to the Washington Post, prosecutors decided Monday that the pair can await trial on home confinement in Tennessee. Judge Robert Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote that Jan. 6 presented “a unique opportunity to obstruct democracy,” and he doesn’t believe that Munchel and Eisenhart pose a significant threat outside of that one-off context. Federal agents have been investigating whether Munchel planned to take lawmakers hostage with his cuffs, but, so far, no evidence of such plans has emerged.