Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a Washington, DC press dinner, is due back in court for a hearing over his conditions in jail.
Magistrate Judge Zia M. Faruqui ordered the hearing for noon EDT on May 4 even after Allen's lawyers said May 3 that they were dropping their request for it because they learned Allen is no longer on "suicide status" in the jail.
Faruqui said in his order that he has "grave concerns" about Allen's "seemingly unprompted solitary confinement for days and overall conditions of confinement." The judge added that a representative of the Department of Corrections needed to be present at the hearing to explain Allen's confinement conditions.
Earlier May 3, Allen's lawyers said in a filing to the Washington, D.C. federal district court, which is handling Allen's case, that he was repeatedly screened and cleared of being a suicide risk, and yet the jail was still keeping him under suicide-preventive restrictions that were blocking him from getting personal items, tablets, phone calls, non-legal visits, or dimmed lights.
"Finally, Mr. Allen is forced to be escorted to the shower, strip searched when entering and exiting his cell, and wear a padded vest while inside," according to the motion, which was signed by federal public defender A.J. Kramer and Allen's two court-appointed lawyers, Tezira Abe and Eugene Ohm.
