WASHINGTON — A Silver Spring man who spent four months in prison for his role in the Capitol riot now faces three new criminal counts for allegedly violating an anti-stalking order against a D.C. activist.
Bryan Betancur Battisti, 26, appeared in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday for arraignment on three counts of contempt of an anti-stalking order. The order bars him from being in public or private spaces near Brianne Chapman, a D.C.-based activist who goes by the moniker “Anarchy Princess” and who frequently counter-protests hearings in cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
According to prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General for D.C. (OAG), Battisti violated the order on three occasions in February when he entered a courtroom at the nearby federal courthouse and failed to leave when he saw Chapman was in the public gallery. A WUSA9 reporter was present on at least one occasion on Feb. 8 when federal officers briefly detained and then escorted Battisti out of the building. He was also barred from U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols’ courtroom for three months for his behavior in court during the hearing for another Jan. 6 defendant, Gina Bisignano, who is awaiting trial.
Under D.C. Code, violation of an anti-stalking order carries a potential sentence of up to 180 days behind bars for each instance.
Prosecutors sought to have Battisti held without bond – arguing there was a risk of flight and of witness intimidation – but D.C. Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Wingo declined. Wingo said prosecutors had failed to prove a causal link between comments made toward Chapman online by Battisti’s friends and supporters (except for one occasion when Battisti retweeted what appeared to be threatening language, which the judge called “incredibly poor judgment”). She also noted the situation was more “complicated” than many other anti-stalking cases.
Last year, a Montgomery County judge granted restraining orders for both Battisti and Chapman against one another. Those orders expired at the end of the year and Chapman sought, and received, a new anti-stalking order in D.C. Battisti sought an extension of his order against Chapman in Maryland but that request was denied. He has appealed that decision and a hearing on the appeal was scheduled for Thursday morning.
Wingo also noted Chapman appears to have commented on the situation using potentially inflammatory language online, including at least once saying she was “inciting her stalker.”
Wingo said she would instead order Battisti be placed on GPS monitoring if pretrial services determined he was eligible. She also warned him that any future violations would not be met with leniency.
“I want to be 100% clear here: If you violate a law – and an anti-stalking order is a law – then I will lock you up,” Wingo said.
Battisti – who legally added “Battisti” to the end of his name last year – was on GPS monitoring for a burglary case out of Montgomery County on Jan. 6, 2021, when he joined a mob of thousands of other supporters of former President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol. Battisti had received permission to travel to D.C. that day by claiming he was going to join a group handing out Bibles. Instead, according to a statement of facts Battisti signed as part of his plea deal, he climbed scaffolding at the Capitol and helped other rioters pass furniture out of the window of a congressional office. Battisti can be seen in a photograph helping a woman the FBI has now identified as Isabella Maria DeLuca pass out a table that was later broken up and used to assault police. DeLuca, who is now a conservative social media influencer, was charged this week with multiple misdemeanor counts connected to the riot.
In other photos from Jan. 6, Battisti can be seen wearing a Proud Boys t-shirt and holding up a confederate battle flag on scaffolding erected ahead of the presidential inauguration.
Although he was not charged with any violent crimes connected to the riot, federal investigators described Battisti – then Betancur – in charging documents as a self-professed white supremacist who wanted to be a “lone-wolf killer.”
“Betancur has voiced homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, and has researched mass shootings,” investigators wrote. “Betancur voiced support for James Fields, the individual convicted for killing [Heather Heyer] with his car during protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. Betancur has stated he wanted to run people over with a vehicle and kill people in a church.”
After the Capitol riot, Battisti’s probation out of Maryland was revoked and he was ordered to serve a previously suspended 18-month sentence in prison on a count of fourth-degree burglary. He also received four months behind bars and a year of probation, along with more time on GPS monitoring, after pleading guilty in federal court in D.C. to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted grounds on Jan. 6.
Betancur was ordered to return to D.C. Superior Court on April 9 for a status conference in his anti-stalking case. He will also have to appear to be booked in the case on April 1.