A militia member charged in the Capitol riot says her court hearing should be delayed because her wedding ring is stuck, lawyer says

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A militia member charged in the Capitol riot says her court hearing should be delayed because her wedding ring is stuck, lawyer says
Members of the Oath Keepers militia at the Capitol building on January 6.REUTERS/Jim Bourg/File Photo
  • An Oath Keepers militia member charged in the Capitol riot has asked to delay her court hearings.
  • Connie Meggs says her wedding ring is stuck, so she can't board a plane for court in Washington, DC.
  • Her husband was also arrested in connection with the insurrection.
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Connie Meggs, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia who participated in the riot at the Capitol building, says her court hearings should be delayed because her wedding ring is stuck, her lawyer said in a court filing.

Meggs was arrested in Florida on February 17 alongside her husband, Kelly Meggs, who was also charged over his participation in the insurrection. But while Kelly Meggs was extradited to Washington, DC to be jailed ahead of his trial, Connie Meggs wasn't allowed to board a plane.

"When Mrs. Meggs was taken to the Jacksonville International Airport, she was denied boarding of the aircraft because she was wearing her wedding ring, which apparently cannot be removed past the knuckle on her ring finger," her attorney, David Anthony Wilson, wrote in a court filing reviewed by Insider. "She was then taken back to the jail in Orlando, Florida where the officials there refused to cut the ring from her finger. To this day she remains languishing in that facility."

The 59-year-old Connie participated in the mob that stormed the Capitol building on January 6, prosecutors say. The insurrectionists sought to stop Congress from certifying the country's electoral votes in favor of now-President Joe Biden at the urging of then-President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged.

Prosecutors have identified the Oath Keepers as one of the far-right groups that planned violence ahead of the event, along with the Three Percenters and Proud Boys. Ten members of the Oath Keepers have been charged in public court documents so far.

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Because Connie Meggs remains jailed in Florida, her attorney has asked the judge to delay hearings over her case, which will be based in Washington, DC. Meggs said she could participate in the hearings via video if she's released on bail, Wilson said.

"Because Mrs. Meggs cannot be transported while wearing the wedding ring which she cannot herself remove, nor will the jail, it appears there is no definitive time frame within which she can appear before this Court should she remain in custody," Wilson wrote, adding: "She is in limbo, deprived of her liberty and unable to even appear before the Court to start preparing a defense to the charges against her, which she is anxious to do."

A representative for Jacksonville International Airport didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

A judge previously ruled that Meggs should remain in detention until a criminal trial.

Federal prosecutors appear to be building a major case against the Oath Keepers, charging them in groups and filing excerpts of communications between them showing that they trained in advance of the insurrection, looked at Trump's directions for an attack on the Capitol, and had ambitions to kill lawmakers in Congress.

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