The attorney for Jack “Ziz” LaSota, the alleged ringleader of a transgender death cult known as the “Zizians,” is claiming that the Trump Justice Department is “offensively” misgendering his client by breaking from Biden-era DOJ pronoun practices.
LaSota, 34, is charged at the federal level with possessing firearms and ammunition as a fugitive on the run. According to the June 18 indictment, while at large, LaSota possessed a cache of weapons, including a sniper rifle, various handguns, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
In a motion demanding a speedy trial, filed last week, LaSota’s court-appointed counsel, Gary Proctor, complained that prosecutors used his client’s so-called “deadname,” Jack, instead of “Ziz,” in the charging documents.
In the footnotes, Proctor linked to a USA Today article asserting that referring to transgender people by their birth name threatens their physical safety.
Proctor also complained about the prosecution refusing to respect LaSota’s “preferred pronouns.”
“The Government also doubles down on offensively labeling Ms. LaSota by using male pronouns such as ‘he was a fugitive from justice.’ It is well known, and widely reported, that Ms. LaSota is transgender,” Proctor wrote.
Under the Biden administration, DOJ press releases would refer to transgender-identifying biological men facing federal charges, some for sexual crimes, as women and use female pronouns. Trump’s DOJ, however, has addressed defendants by biology, rather than affirming their gender identity, throughout court documents.
In the court filing, Proctor then accused the DOJ of “thwarting” LaSota’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.
Noting that his client has not yet had an initial hearing, Proctor claimed that “nothing has happened” in the case since he was appointed LaSota’s lawyer.
“This is despite the fact that the Government has, at all times, known where to find Ms. LaSota,” added Proctor. “She has been, and continues to be, incarcerated at the Allegany County Detention Center.”
LaSota is currently held in Allegany County, Maryland, pending a separate trial on state charges of trespassing, obstructing an officer, resisting arrest, transporting firearms, and drug possession. On Feb. 16, alongside two Zizian members, LaSota was allegedly discovered hiding in a box truck, heavily armed and dressed in all black. At the time, there were warrants out for LaSota’s arrest for failing to appear in court.
Proctor cited the Speedy Trial Act, which stipulates that a trial must commence within 70 days from the filing date of an indictment or when the defendant makes a first courtroom appearance, whichever occurs more recently. Proctor alleged that the U.S. attorneys assigned to the case “have done nothing to ensure that Ms. LaSota appears before a judicial officer” in a prompt manner.
In a Wednesday response opposing Proctor’s motion, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly Hayes continued to refer to LaSota by birth name and biologically accurate pronouns.
Hayes, contesting Proctor’s claims, mentioned that LaSota’s state trial in Maryland is set to start on Dec. 1 following months of delay.
As such, Hayes argued that the Speedy Trial Act does not apply in this case because LaSota is a pretrial detainee, jailed while awaiting criminal proceedings, as opposed to an incarcerated defendant serving a prior criminal conviction. Subsection 3161(j) of the Speedy Trial Act requires federal prosecutors to “obtain the presence of a prisoner … serving a term of imprisonment in any penal institution.”
Hayes pointed to four factors laid out by the Barker test, a legal standard set in the 1972 Supreme Court case Barker v. Wingo, in determining if a defendant’s speedy trial rights were violated: length of delay, reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant.
“The length of the delay is limited to approximately five months,” and “the reason for the delay is out of respect for a parallel state judicial proceeding,” Hayes countered.
To accommodate the defense’s request, Hayes said that her office and the U.S. Marshals Service have coordinated to schedule LaSota’s arraignment for Monday morning at a Baltimore federal courthouse in front of Magistrate Judge Douglas R. Miller.
Both parties accordingly agreed that LaSota will be transported to Baltimore and, following the hearing, will be returned to Allegany County that same day. Afterwards, attorneys from each side will discuss whether LaSota wishes to still invoke the right to a speedy trial.
The “Zizians,” a cohort of transgender-antifascist (“trantifa”) activists, are allegedly tied to six slayings across several states, including the fatal shooting of a Border Patrol officer in Vermont, the stabbing death of an 82-year-old landlord in California, and the double murder of an elderly couple in Pennsylvania.
Homicide-related charges have not been lodged against LaSota in connection with any of the deaths. If convicted in this federal case, LaSota faces a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars.
Proctor, a Baltimore-based criminal defense lawyer, specializes in defending capital cases. He has helped clients avoid capital punishment at trial in federal and state courts, prior to Maryland’s abolition of the death penalty.
The Washington Examiner contacted Proctor and the DOJ for comment.
Federal prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty against Teresa “Milo” Youngblut, allegedly one of the “Zizians,” after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi lifted a Biden-era moratorium on federal executions, citing the killing of Border Patrol agent David C. Maland.
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Youngblut is federally indicted on charges of Maland’s murder, a capital crime, among other offenses.
According to authorities, Youngblut engaged in a Jan. 20 gunfight with Maland and other officers during a deadly immigration inspection close to the Canadian border in Coventry, Vermont. Youngblut allegedly opened fire “without warning,” and Maland was fatally wounded.
