Judge Amos Mazzant, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled that the FBI had to release the laptop, siding with Brian Huddleston.
On Tuesday, a judge ordered that the Federal Bureau of Investigation hand over the laptop that belonged to Seth Rich, the 27-year-old Democratic National Committee staffer who was gunned down on July 10, 2016, while walking back to his Washington, DC home.
Judge Amos Mazzant, of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled that the FBI had to release the laptop, siding with Brian Huddleston, the man who filed a lawsuit against the FBI for failing to provide the material after he submitted a Freedom of Information Act request.
“It is further ORDERED that the Government and Huddleston shall recommend to the court a timeline for the disclosure of information on Seth Rich’s personal laptop, Seth Rich’s work laptop, the DVD, and the tape drive within 14 days following the issuance of this Memorandum Opinion and Order,” Mazzant wrote in his decision.
According to Just The News, Texas resident Huddleston filed FOIA requests in both 2017 and 2020 with the FBI related to its investigation into Rich’s murder.
A 2022 ruling from Mazzant stated that the FBI had “improperly withheld” information “with regard to Seth Rich’s laptop” in its possession.
While police have maintained that Rich was murdered during a botched robbery, some have attempted to claim that his death was somehow connected to the Democratic Party. As NPR reports, his parents settled a lawsuit with Fox News in 2020 over its role in pushing those claims.
No suspect was ever arrested, and the case has not been closed.