‘You Don’t Make the Rules’: Federal Judge Blasts ‘Autistic’ Jan. 6 Defendant for Not Wearing Mask in Court

A federal judge on Friday blasted an ‘autistic’ defendant for not wearing a mask. In the process, the judge unleashed a litany of claims that would make any unhinged Karen proud.

Daniel Goodwyn, who the Washington Post describes as having taken part in the “assault” on the Capitol, was not charged for any violent crime.

Now was he charged for “insurrection.” In fact, none of the over 500 January 6 defendants were. He was standing trial for charges of “felony obstruction of an official proceeding and related misdemeanors.”

The real “offense” appeared to be wanting to breathe oxygen without a mask strapped onto his face. His defense attorney claimed that he had his own health needs, since he is ‘autistic.’

This was irrelevant to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who lashed out in a tirade against Goodwyn’s desire to breathe without a mask on.

“You don’t make the rules,” Walton said. The judge ordered Goodwyn to wear a mask whenever he is in court or with pretrial services.

“If you can’t do that I’m going to have no alternative [but] to lock you up and keep you locked up until this case is resolved.”

“They don’t have to put their lives at risk, they don’t have to, and they will not,” he added.

“I understand [but] I’m not going to do that, sir,” Goowdyn said, and mentioned that Texas doesn’t require masks indoors.

“I don’t care what the law in Texas is,” Walton shot back. “You don’t make the rules. You will be arrested.”

Earlier, federal agents had placed a mask on Goowdyn’s face against his will. Prosecutors said he “attempted to chew through the mask and spit the mask out.”

The defendant had been released to home confinement in February, but he had allegedly “flouted the conditions, making clear that he does not appreciate the privilege of pretrial release provided to him by the Court,” according to prosecutors. They claim that he refuses to wear a mask, report his location or attend meetings.

The judge’s behavior here is quite alarming. The ethical issue here is assuming that the defendant doesn’t have a right to attend to his own personal health and psychiatric needs. Without relitigating the scant evidence that masks even work to any significant degree in a public setting, people have both rights and options to protect their own personal health.

An important bit of context. Vaccines are designed to protect you personally against a severe symptomatic reaction to a virus. They do not even prevent transmission of the virus — and neither do masks. Members of the court who believe the vaccine works have the option of taking the vaccine or wearing the masks themselves, if it makes them feel safer.

The argument that a defendant is endangering the lives of others by not wearing a mask is hyperbolic nonsense. It is irrational and unscientific. That isn’t stopping both the media or even the courts for making the unfounded claim that they have any appreciable effect on slowing the transmission of the virus.

The masks have become a means of tyrannical control and a way to dehumanize American citizens. Health mandates do not replace a legal code based on rights articulated in our Constitution.  Our system of laws is being usurped by pseudo-scientific, media-generated hysteria.