MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Editor's note: The above video is from Jan. 26, 2021.
A summer of legal wrangling continues for accused U.S. Capitol rioter and suspected laptop thief Riley Williams.
The Mechanicsburg woman's request to have the terms of her house arrest lifted so that she could attend the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire was granted by a U.S. District judge in Washington D.C., court records show.
Williams will be allowed to attend the Manheim, Lancaster County event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled.
It was a rare pre-trial victory for Williams, who has been on house arrest since last year while awaiting trial for her alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Earlier this week, Jackson denied Williams' request to have her trial moved from Washington D.C. to Harrisburg. Williams' attorney, Lori Ulrich, argued unsuccessfully that a Harrisburg-area jury would be less likely to be biased against Williams.
In July, Ulrich petitioned the court to have the house arrest and ankle monitoring requirements for Williams lifted, calling them "unduly burdensome."
Jackson also denied that motion, stating Williams was a flight risk and noting that she had previously not fully complied with the terms of her house arrest conditions.
Williams, 25, was charged in January with entering the U.S. Capitol as part of the riot and, once inside, stealing a laptop belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Williams is charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, theft of government property, entering and remaining inside a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building for her alleged conduct on Jan. 6.