Judge orders Idaho National Guard to produce documents related to detainment of D.C. woman

A Washington D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered the Idaho National Guard to produce documents related to an incident in May in which guards members detained a woman outside her home.  

D.C. resident Anna King filed a separate $3 million claim against the Idaho National Guard in July for injuries and distress she said she experienced when she was detained on May 8. Members of the Gem State’s National Guard have been in the nation’s Capital since February as part of a Joint Task Force, although there was no public announcement of the deployment until after King filed her claim, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. 

Under the direction of D.C. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Di Toro at a hearing Thursday, the Idaho National Guard, D.C. National Guard and U.S. Department of Defense will have to produce, or explain why they can’t produce, documents related to the detainment of King. 

King wrote in her tort claim against the Idaho National Guard that the troops did not explain why they were detaining her or provide a warrant when they approached her that evening.

A video of the incident shows three men in National Guard uniforms approaching King, who had been sitting on a bench outside her apartment.

King told the guards members not to touch her. She walked toward the steps to go back into her apartment, but the troops blocked her, the video showed. Two of them pinned her against the ground and secured her wrists behind her back. 

The U.S. government charged King with two counts of misdemeanor assault on a police officer on May 9. In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office added three more charges of simple assault. The charges stem from alleged assaults on May 6. 

King pleaded not guilty and asked for a trial. 

King’s attorney, Jeffrey Nestler, said the Idaho National Guard provided one document, but the legal team felt it wasn’t sufficient. King’s attorneys asked for all reports, records, communications, directives and other documents from the Idaho National Guard related to King. 

Di Toro agreed, and ordered the prosecutor to ensure the entities produce relevant documents. 

According to court documents and Nestler, the Idaho National Guard members who detained King on May 8 said they had “prior run-ins” with King and had been ordered to detain her. 

“We’re here now in the part of the law that requires the government to do more than just ask questions, so I’m going to direct you to actually spend a little more time trying to understand whether prior to May 6, the Idaho National Guard had what the defense is calling a run-in with Ms. King,” Di Toro told Assistant United States Attorney Vanessa Jacobsen Thursday. 

As of Nov. 6, there are 27 Idaho National Guard troops in Washington D.C. There are more than 3,000 National Guard members from other states and territories.

King is a former Army captain and Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient, according to a press release announcing her tort claim.

“As a trained combat veteran, I never imagined that armed National Guard members would attack, injure, and traumatize me at my home,” King said in the press release. “We are not at war with Americans, and my porch is not a war zone.”

The trial in the case against King is scheduled to start July 27, 2027.