A woman accused of throwing a knife at a federal officer outside the immigration building in South Portland and later fighting with U.S. marshals while in custody should not be released again because she remains a “flat-out danger,” a federal prosecutor said Thursday.
Julie Mikela Winters, 47, was rearrested last month for returning to her apartment across from the ICE building against court orders, according to court testimony.
Winters’ current placement with male inmates is harming her mental health, said her lawyer, Jonathan C. Ogden. Winters is a transgender woman.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Armistead rejected the release request, citing the two cases against her.
“The conditions for transgender women do give the court extreme pause. The conditions in jail or prison for someone with mental health conditions does give the court extreme pause,” Armistead said. “Nevertheless, I don’t see at this point any other option but continued detention.”
Winters was first arrested in June, accused of waving and then throwing a butcher-type knife at a federal officer outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The officers had approached her after they noticed she had lit an illegal firework near the front gate about 11:15 p.m. on June 24, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Lewis Burkhart.
The knife missed an officer by about two to three feet, he said.
Winters is accused of attempted assault of a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon and intimidating a federal officer in that encounter.
She was released in July pending trial but was rearrested when she returned to her apartment across the street from the ICE building and did not stay at a nonprofit transitional housing as ordered. She was rearrested Aug. 20 when she reported to her pretrial officer in response to a summons, according to the prosecutor and her defense lawyer.
“It was quite a shock the way things went down,” said Ogden, her attorney. “Five marshals come in and take Ms. Winters to the ground. I watched as she’s screaming. She’s bleeding from the face and she’s begging for help.”
Later that day, Winters fought with deputy marshals while in a holding cell, Burkhart said.
The marshals had moved to help her after she tried to hurt herself in the holding cell and she began “kicking and flailing” at them, Burkhart wrote in a detention memo. She later grabbed a marshal by the hair and began to whip her around, he said.
Winters now faces new allegations of assaulting a federal officer and resisting arrest.
“She has this rage against authority and it’s getting worse,” Burkhart said.
U.S. Capitol Police also are investigating if Winters sent an email to U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., on June 9, calling him a white supremacist and issuing a vague threat that he should be hanged with a rope and a “4x4,” according to court records.
The IP address came back to a T-Mobile number in Winters’ mother’s name, which she had said was hers during an arrest in Portland in December, Burkhart said. No charges have been filed against Winters in connection with the email investigation.
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