“It was strong, it was passionate, it was emotional,” says father Ned Lang, after hugging his 27 year-old son Jake for the first time in over 15 months.
Outside the courthouse, he shared the following message, telling his son to stay strong:
Jake Lang is currently detained pre-trial in William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, VA. Before arriving there, he was shuttled between prisons in Oklahoma, Washington, DC and Lewisburg, PA. During his initial detainment, he had difficulty walking. Lang incurred a broken foot as a result of Capitol Police attacks against mainly peaceful protesters on Jan. 6.
Lang saved the lives of Phillip Anderson and Thomas Tatum. Both were trapped among a pile of bodies outside the Capitol’s lower west terrace and subjected to police brutalities. Roseanne Boyland was killed there just moments before Jake rescued Anderson and Tatum.
During last Wednesday’s status hearing, Lang’s defense lawyer Steven Metcalf informed Judge Carl Nichols that Lang has been unable to see his family since incarcerated. Judge Nichols suggested this was due to COVID-19 protocol but wasn’t exactly sure.
US Marshals in the courtroom- who are responsible for pretrial prisoners’ custody- argued Lang could not do so because he was allegedly “a threat.” However, the judge disagreed. He granted Jake’s mother, Sari Lang, the ability to hug her son for three short seconds. Both were allowed to remove their masks at this time.
Judge Nichols reasoned this should occur because Jake’s father was granted the same right during the previous status conference in April.
“Make it fast. Get it over with,” were Judge Nichols’ remarks before the hug.
Hear Jake’s mother describe her experience below:
Lang’s trial begins on Jan. 9, 2023. A pretrial conference takes place on Dec. 19 at 10am in Courtroom 19, DC District Court. Click here for a full schedule detailing upcoming deadlines and steps before the case goes to trial.
Last Wednesday, Judge Nichols did not reach a decision regarding Lang’s motion to dismission count 9 (obstruction of an official proceeding) or his motion to file an extension of time.
Listen below as attorney Steven Metcalf and Ned Lang describe the events and the status hearing and what they foresee happening next. :
Steven Metcalf: “Today we were in front of Judge Nichols and filed a motion to dismiss Count 9, which is the 1512 count on behalf of Edward Jacob Lang. Every one of his appearances since 2022 have been in person, so we are here at the courthouse today. We have a motion scheduled on that motion, and for the first time in 15 months, we were able to get permission for Mr. Edward Jacob to hug and embrace his father today. So it was an impactful moment. We are glad that the court allowed such to happen, and we look forward to the outcome of quite a few motions we have filed on behalf of Mr. Lang.”
Ned Lang: “It was a good day today. We have a lot of good stuff coming down the pike here for my son. We have a section of his legal team here, doing a lot of work, giving it his all, and we have got some really cool, groundbreaking type of motions we are going to be putting forth.
And, I got to talk to my son today, so that was awesome. The judge is, I really appreciate. That was great.
I am very concerned though, that it’s almost impossible to have a fair and impartial jury in Washington, DC. And it’s been shown in so many ways. Anyone that has come here, before any jury in Washington, DC concerning J6 has been thrown, just sold out.
So we have to have a change of venue. If we do not get a change of venue, I don’t believe we will get a fair trial, and we will call for a mistrial and take that as far as we need to go.
So this is far from over, and the government better pack their lunch because we have a lot of good stuff coming out.”
In addition, here is Sari Lang outside the courthouse describing Jake’s condition as a pretrial detainee and what happened when he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6:
Interviewer: “Do you feel like they are treating your son worse than a mass murderer?”
Sari Lang: “They are treating him as if he raped, pillaged, and murdered people where he didn’t even injure anybody. He never made it inside the Capitol building. He never got to be heard.
Sari Lang: “My name is Sari Lang. I am the mother of Edward Jacob Lang. He has been incarcerated now for 491 days for attending a rally in Washington, DC. It was something he did at the spur of the moment. He had no previous plan to do this. He called me that day and said ‘Mom, I’m going to get a ride share and I’m going to go to the rally.’
And that was the most fateful and worse day of our lives because my son got caught in a crowd that he could not leave. But he decided he would stay because he couldn’t get out of the mass group of people that were pushing. And as he was witnessing women and children being hit and injured, he was trying to help them. He was moving people away from the tons of police trying to strike them in the head. He got struck himself. He got hit with a rubber bullet in his foot and it broke his foot.
Basically, he was trying to survive and saved the lives of two men in the interim. One was Phillip Anderson, and I don’t remember the other gentleman’s name right now. But both of them have signed affidavits saying my son directly saved their lives. Again, he had no pre-plan to participate in this rally, but when he got there, he fought for his life because he was attacked.
The attack came from the Capitol Police on his life and the people that were around him. He was a survivalist and that’s what he did. He survived, and now he’s trying to survive in jail. And it’s just a very unfair and seemingly not the United States of American when people can be treated like this, and put into a hole underground in solitary confinement, reduced to inhumane conditions.”
Click here to give and assist Jake and his fellow J6ers in their efforts to receive a fair trial:
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