Safe
to
say
that
Chief
Judge
Beryl
Howell
was not
impressed
with
the
Emergency
Motion
to
Travel
filed
this
morning
by
Capitol
Riot
defendant
Jason
Owens.
Owens,
who
traveled
from
Texas
to
DC
with
his
21-year-old
son
and
breached
the
Capitol
building
on
January
6,
2021,
hasn’t
let
a
multi-count
federal
felony
indictment
slow
him
down.
In
fact,
the
sales
rep
for
Mallinckrodt
Pharmaceuticals
is
doing
better
than
ever,
pushing
enough
drugs
to
earn
himself
a
spot
in
the
“Presidents
Club”
trip
to
Cabo
San
Lucas.
It’s
not
clear
if
Chief
Judge
Howell
would
have
granted
the
request
to
spend
five
nights
in
Mexico
at
a
luxury
resort,
even
if
it
hadn’t
been
made
less
than
two
weeks
before
the
proposed
trip,
after
the
tickets
had
already
been
purchased,
and
styled
as
an
“Emergency
Motion,”
emphasis
original.
Nor
is
it
clear
why
Owens’s
attorney,
a
Texas
lawyer
admitted
pro
hac
vice
to
practice
in
the
District,
failed
to
bring
the
matter
to
the
court’s
attention
since
April
22,
when
his
client
first
asked
him
to
“Let
me
know
how
you
want
to
proceed
with
getting
permission
from
the
court
to
attend
this
meeting.”
It’s
possible
that
mistakes
were
made.
In
any
event,
it
appears
that
Owens
will
not
be
able
to
make
the
trip,
as
Howell
responded
just
hours
later
with
this
scathing
minute
order
flagged
by
BuzzFeed’s
Zoe
Tillman.
Forgive
the
long
block
quote,
but
the
full-throated
judicial
rage
on
display
cannot
be
appreciated
with
mere
excerpts:
On
April
21,
2021,
defendant
made
his
first
appearance
before
a
magistrate
judge
of
this
Court
following
his
arrest
on
charges
relating
to
his
alleged
criminal
conduct
on
January
6,
2021,
including
the
serious
felony
charges
of
assaulting,
resisting,
or
impeding
an
officer
of
the
Metropolitan
Police
Department,
and
obstruction
of
law
enforcement
during
a
civil
disorder.Exactly
one
year
later,
on
April
21,
2022,
defendant
registered,
as
an
apparent
“winner”
of
the
“2021
President’s
Club”
recognition
offered
by
his
employer,
Mallinckrodt
Pharmaceuticals,
for
he
and
his
wife
to
attend
a
five-night
getaway
in
Cabo
San
Lucas,
Mexico,
furnishing
such
business-critical
data
as
his
t-shirt
and
shoe
sizes
(“Mens
L”
and
“Mens
10
1/2”),
favorite
color
(“Blue”),
willingness
to
receive
delivered
alcoholic
beverages
(“Yes”),
and
special
dietary
request
(“Vegan,
but
not
too
crazy
strict”).
See Def.’s
Mot.,
Ex.
A,
from
“Web
Registrations”
to
Jason
Owens
(Apr.
21,
2022).The
following
day,
apparently
fully
aware
that
to
attend
this
boondoggle
he
would
need
dispensation
from
this
Court
due
to
his
conditions
of
pretrial
release,
defendant
inquired
of
his
retained
counsel
“how
you
want
to
proceed
with
getting
permission
from
the
court
to
attend
this
meeting,”
Def.’s
Mot.,
Ex.
A,
from
Jason
Owens
to
Jim
Darnell
(Apr.
22,
2022),
seemingly
assuming
this
Court’s
approach
to
nonessential
foreign
travel
by
defendants
facing
federal
felony
charges
would
be,
like
defendant’s
adherence
to
veganism,
“not
too
crazy
strict.”
More
than
a
month
later,
on
May
23,
2022,
defendant
filed
the
instant
“emergency motion
to
travel”
(emphasis
in
original),
to
attend
“a
corporate
meeting”
and/or
“a
work-related
conference,”
now
less
than
two
weeks
away
with
flights
already
booked,
Def.’s
Mot.
at
1.Public
reports
describe
the
“President’s
Club”
as
“a
prestigious
award
for
top-selling
[Mallinckrodt]
reps
that
came
with
free
trips
to
destinations
like
Hawaii
and
Europe,”
Meryl
Kornfield
et
al., Inside
the
Sales
Machine
of
the
‘Kingpin’
of
Opioid
Makers,
Wash.
Post
(May
10,
2022),
https://wapo.st/3MGfKEB.
Past
years
have
promised
“a
great
trip
dedicated
to
celebrating
your
achievements”
including
“a
week
of
fun
and
relaxation,”
five-star
accommodations,
and
“spa
treatments,
golf
and
water
activities
such
as
snorkeling,
paddle
boarding
and
outrigger
canoes,” id. (reproducing
a
Mallinckrodt
document,
“FY13
President’s
Club
in
Maui,
Hawaii”).
While
the
Court
does
not
begrudge
defendant’s
apparent
business
success
while
on
pretrial
release,
his
international
travel
to
harvest
the
bounties
of
such
success
will
need
to
wait
until
he
is
no
longer
facing
felony
charges
arising
from
ill-advised
domestic
travel
in
January
2021.
Ominous
reference
to
calendar:
check.
Scare
quotes: check.
Recitation
of
embarrassing
personal
details
in
a
manner
guaranteed
to
attract
attention
of
reporters: check.
Barely
concealed
reference
to
attorney’s
failure
to
respect
the
court
by
filing
timely
motion: check.
Judge’s
clerk
who
knows
how
to
work
Google: check.
Language
clicky
enough
that
it
might
even
break
through
the
avalanche
of
bad
publicity
Mallinckrodt
has
been
weathering
this
month:
check.
June
in
Texas:
CHECK
CHECK
CHECK.
US
v.
Owens
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye
lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics.