An excessive-force lawsuit by a pardoned former Jan. 6 defendant who was allegedly twice blasted in the face with pepper spray by a guard in the District of Columbia jail will proceed toward trial, a federal district court judge ruled on Sept. 19.

Judge Jia M. Cobb rejected a motion from lawyers for Crystal Lancaster to dismiss the excessive-force lawsuit brought against her and the District of Columbia by Ronald Colton McAbee of Unionville, Tenn.

The judge dismissed the District of Columbia as a defendant, saying McAbee’s claims of municipal liability in the case “are too conclusory for the court to allow those claims to go forward.”

‘I pray that the truth will prevail.’

Citing several U.S. Court of Appeals precedents, Judge Cobb said, “No officer confronting a person who was 1) subdu

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