A man from Woodland Park accused of attacking police officers while armed with chemical spray and a baseball bat during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol plans to ask an appellate court for bail after his pretrial release was denied by a judge.

Robert Gieswein, 24, is set for a Feb. 22 trial on federal assault and trespassing charges, including an allegation he attacked police using a metal barricade. Although his attorneys say he did not intend to commit violence that day, according to court filings, court papers allege Gieswein came to the Capitol armed and wearing a tactical vest, a helmet and camouflage fatigues.

Gieswein has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan on July 27 denied a request by Gieswein’s attorneys for bail. His attorneys filed a notice Tuesday they intend to appeal the order.

According to court filings, Gieswein said he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 “to keep President Trump in,” and his message to Congress was “they need to get the corrupt politicians out of office,” naming several Democratic lawmakers along with then-President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris.

Gieswein’s attorneys have argued he described no plans to keep former President Donald Trump in office and that he wanted both sides to stay peaceful. Gieswein did not plan on violence, they argue, and he carried a baseball bat and chemical spray in self-defense.

In denying Gieswein’s pretrial release, Sullivan disagreed with that characterization.

“Even if Mr. Gieswein did not purchase such items until he arrived in Washington, his decision to arrive at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 wearing specialized gear and carrying weapons ‘suggests that he was not just caught up in the frenzy of the crowd, but instead came to Washington, D.C. with the intention of causing mayhem and disrupting the democratic process,'” Sullivan wrote in court papers.

He specifically said Gieswein’s case is distinguishable from those of other defendants who showed a “dangerous disdain for democracy and the rule of law” but did not try to harm others during the riot. Sullivan noted he was troubled by Gieswein’s statement to police days after Jan. 6 that he turned himself in because he believed he did nothing wrong.

In  hearing Wednesday, Sullivan expressed concern that the federal government has been tardy sharing evidence with defense attorneys in the Capitol riot cases. He called the Jan. 6 cases “the most complex the court has seen in its years of service.”

Evidence related to the Capitol riot defendants includes thousands of hours of footage from body-worn and surveillance cameras, tens of thousands of documents and tens of thousands of searches of devices and online accounts, according to a July Justice Department memo.

The memo outlined plans to put evidence online for defense attorneys, aided by contracting with Deloitte for technology support services. The filing notes that many of the Capitol riot cases share evidence because the alleged crimes between the cases occurred around the same general place and time.

Gieswein is among several Coloradans charged in connection with the Capitol attack. On Monday, Colorado Springs resident Glenn Wes Lee Croy pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully demonstrating inside the Capitol. 

Rioters sought to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the president-elect and sent lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for safety.