White House dinner shooting suspect seeks end of suicide precautions

BOSTON, May 2 (Reuters) - Attorneys for the man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at a ‌black-tie press gala last weekend asked a judge on ‌Saturday to remove him from suicide precautions while in jail in Washington.

Cole Tomas ​Allen allegedly stormed a security checkpoint and fired a shotgun outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25.

When he was initially booked into the jail facility on April 27, Allen was assigned ‌a "safe cell," described as ⁠a padded room with 24-hour lockdown procedures and a requirement to wear "a vest akin to a ⁠strait jacket," according to a filing by his lawyers in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

He was then downgraded ​to "suicide precautions," ​which means Allen could still ​not make phone calls, receive ‌visits from anyone aside from his legal team, or spend time outside his cell except for legal visits or showers, with an escort, the filing states. A nurse on Friday recommended those precautions be ended, but they remained in place as of ‌a visit by one of his ​public defense lawyers that day, the ​filing states.

Allen's status "amounts to ​punishment" and denies him resources such as the ‌use of a jail tablet, "which would ​permit him to ​communicate with loved ones outside of the jail," the filing states.

Allen is charged with attempted assassination, discharging a firearm ​during a crime ‌of violence and illegally transporting guns and ammunition across state ​lines. He has not yet entered a plea.

(Reporting by ​Ross KerberEditing by Rod Nickel)