Judge Lets DOJ Force-Feed Guard Shooting Suspect
Judge Lets DOJ Force-Feed Guard Shooting Suspect
The News
A federal judge has authorized the Justice Department to force-feed Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the Afghan national charged with shooting two National Guard troops near the White House and killing one of them.
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta signed the emergency order on Aug. 29, after prosecutors said Lakanwal's monthslong refusal to eat had put his life at risk.
Bureau of Prisons medical staff may now deliver nutrition intravenously or through a feeding tube to keep him alive.
What the Order Allows
Mehta's order authorizes "nonconsensual" nutrition and medical treatment to preserve Lakanwal's life or prevent a deterioration that would likely lead to death, along with maintenance of his feeding tube and related lab work.
It permits a tube run through his nasal passage into his stomach, feeding through his veins, or feeding through a tube already connected to his stomach.
It does not authorize surgically establishing a new tube through his stomach wall.
The order expires Oct. 28, and the Justice Department can ask for an extension.
Timeline
Thanksgiving eve: Lakanwal ambushed two National Guard members outside a subway station three blocks from the White House, according to prosecutors. A witness told police he fired while screaming "Allahu Akbar!" Lakanwal was shot during the confrontation and made his first court appearance from a hospital bed.
West Virginia Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died of her wounds. Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, was critically wounded. Both had been deployed to Washington under President Trump's law-enforcement surge in the capital.
Beckstrom was memorialized in her hometown of Webster Springs, West Virginia.
Lakanwal pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder and the rest of the 17 counts the Justice Department has brought against him.
He was rushed to a hospital after he stopped eating.
Mehta granted the government's emergency request.
Reactions
Defense attorney Shelli Peterson declined Monday to elaborate on Lakanwal's medical condition and care. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's office also declined to comment.
Prosecutors argued in their filing that courts have long held prison officials may involuntarily feed hunger-striking prisoners. Redacted court records do not spell out why Lakanwal stopped eating.
Mehta, an Obama appointee, had previously considered and turned down government requests for court-ordered nutrition. Lakanwal has appeared gaunt and used a wheelchair at hearings before him.
What's Next
The feeding order runs through Oct. 28 unless renewed.
The Justice Department has still not said whether it will seek the death penalty. "That is a very weighty decision," Pirro said last year.
More
Lakanwal came to the United States under a humanitarian program after the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. After the shooting, the Trump administration paused all immigration processing for Afghan nationals — a move a federal judge later reversed.
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