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Phila. Inquirer: 62 Pennsylvanians have been charged in the Capitol riot.
62 Pennsylvanians have been charged in the Capitol riot. A year later, judges are starting to weigh their punishments.
by Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith
Published an hour ago
Hours after thousands of unruly supporters of President Donald Trump overran the U.S. Capitol, injuring scores of officers and imperiling the peaceful transition of power, Terry Brown — a 69-year-old retired public safety officer from Lebanon County — became the first Pennsylvanian charged in the attack. One of the few caught inside the building that day, he later told his hometown newspaper: “I don’t regret doing what I did, because we got a message across, and the world knows it.” As he was sentenced last month to 30 days house arrest and three years’ probation for his crimes, Brown’s tone was far less defiant.
(snip)
A year after the attack that launched what the Justice Department has described as the largest investigation in its history its focus has largely transitioned from who played a role in the riot to how to prosecute and punish the more than 700 people — including more than 60 Pennsylvanians — who have been charged so far.
(snip)
But already more than 150 defendants, like Brown, have pleaded guilty — mostly to misdemeanor charges — leaving courts to wrestle at sentencing with how to punish participants whose conduct may not sound particularly egregious in isolation but, when viewed collectively, contributed to an unprecedented attack on the nation’s halls of power. So far, little consensus has emerged among the 22 federal district judges in Washington presiding over the cases. Some have balked at government recommendations for probation instead of prison time, while others have suggested serious time is inappropriate for low-level offenders.
Another still accused the Justice Department of inconsistently applying sentencing standards to those swept up in the Capitol dragnet compared to defendants who were charged with crimes connected to the racial justice protests that followed the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. With such disagreement in the judicial ranks, it’s “no wonder,” Beryl Howell, the chief district judge for the D.C. federal courts, mused recently, that Americans “are confused about whether what happened on Jan. 6 was a petty offense of trespassing or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms.” And as those debates intensify, with trials and sentencings looming later this year for accused insurrectionists facing more serious charges like conspiracy or assaulting officers, defendants from Pennsylvania — which has seen more Capitol riot arrests per capita than any state except Montana — will continue to be at the fore.
(snip)
More: https://www.inquirer.com/news/capitol-riot-pennsylvania-new-jersey-arrests-sentencings-cases-20220105.html
by Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith
Published an hour ago
Hours after thousands of unruly supporters of President Donald Trump overran the U.S. Capitol, injuring scores of officers and imperiling the peaceful transition of power, Terry Brown — a 69-year-old retired public safety officer from Lebanon County — became the first Pennsylvanian charged in the attack. One of the few caught inside the building that day, he later told his hometown newspaper: “I don’t regret doing what I did, because we got a message across, and the world knows it.” As he was sentenced last month to 30 days house arrest and three years’ probation for his crimes, Brown’s tone was far less defiant.
(snip)
A year after the attack that launched what the Justice Department has described as the largest investigation in its history its focus has largely transitioned from who played a role in the riot to how to prosecute and punish the more than 700 people — including more than 60 Pennsylvanians — who have been charged so far.
(snip)
But already more than 150 defendants, like Brown, have pleaded guilty — mostly to misdemeanor charges — leaving courts to wrestle at sentencing with how to punish participants whose conduct may not sound particularly egregious in isolation but, when viewed collectively, contributed to an unprecedented attack on the nation’s halls of power. So far, little consensus has emerged among the 22 federal district judges in Washington presiding over the cases. Some have balked at government recommendations for probation instead of prison time, while others have suggested serious time is inappropriate for low-level offenders.
Another still accused the Justice Department of inconsistently applying sentencing standards to those swept up in the Capitol dragnet compared to defendants who were charged with crimes connected to the racial justice protests that followed the 2020 police killing of George Floyd. With such disagreement in the judicial ranks, it’s “no wonder,” Beryl Howell, the chief district judge for the D.C. federal courts, mused recently, that Americans “are confused about whether what happened on Jan. 6 was a petty offense of trespassing or shocking criminal conduct that represented a grave threat to our democratic norms.” And as those debates intensify, with trials and sentencings looming later this year for accused insurrectionists facing more serious charges like conspiracy or assaulting officers, defendants from Pennsylvania — which has seen more Capitol riot arrests per capita than any state except Montana — will continue to be at the fore.
(snip)
More: https://www.inquirer.com/news/capitol-riot-pennsylvania-new-jersey-arrests-sentencings-cases-20220105.html
PA - the hotbed of insurrection - ironically the state where the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were drafted and where 8 out of the 9 GOP U.S. House members went full loon and voted to overturn the 3,458,229 votes from our electorate who voted for Joe Biden.
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