Colinford Mattis (Left) and Urooj Rahman (Right)

U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie on Monday ordered the release of a Pryor Cashman associate accused of helping damage a New York City Police Department vehicle with a Molotov cocktail during protests in Brooklyn early Saturday, over the objection of prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York.

Brodie upheld U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Gold's ruling that Colinford Mattis, on furlough from Pryor Cashman since April because of the coronavirus pandemic, could be released to confinement in his Brooklyn home on a $250,000 bond. She denied prosecutors' request for a one-day stay to allow them to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, but spokesman John Marzulli of the U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed they intend to appeal regardless.

Prosecutors argued that Mattis should be detained because he had "not demonstrated himself to be a rational person" early Saturday, when he allegedly drove a van from which another attorney, 31-year-old Urooj Rahman, allegedly emerged to throw a Molotov cocktail at an unoccupied NYPD vehicle.

"The conduct was reckless, it was violent, it was completely lawless," Brodie said, but she noted that both defendants seemed to have stable lives and support from their families and friends.

Mattis, 32, holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a law degree from New York University School of Law, while Rahman graduated from Fordham University School of Law and now works as a public-interest lawyer in the Bronx Housing Court.

Along with several family members, both defendants had fellow attorneys sign as suretors for their bonds.

Pryor Cashman's Executive Committee will review Mattis' employment status as it obtains further information this week, managing partner Ronald Shechtman said in a statement Sunday. On Monday afternoon, a firm spokeswoman said she had no updates on Mattis' status.

The defendants' attorneys argued that the NYPD vehicle involved in the alleged attack had already been damaged and no one was inside at the time.

According to court documents, a fully assembled Molotov cocktail was found in Mattis' van at the time of the pair's arrest, along with materials to make and ignite additional incendiary devices.

Prosecutors submitted a photo provided by a witness that allegedly shows Mattis driving while Rahman holds a Molotov cocktail made from a bottle of Bud Light out the window.

Prosecutors said that, according to the witness, Rahman offered Molotov cocktails to other people "so that those individuals could likewise use the incendiary devices in furtherance of more destruction and violence."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Richardson argued that Mattis and Rahman should be jailed while protests are ongoing in Brooklyn and across the country.

"The evidence against them is extremely strong and they are seeking relief back into the same community that is still suffering from the same tensions. … This is not the environment into which we want to release bomb-throwers," Richardson said.

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