The Feds Admit It: They Are Trying to Force Guilty Pleas by the Capitol Kerfufflers

The money line was six paragraphs down:

Prosecutors are hopeful many will be incentivized to plead to help manage the crush of cases.

“The crush of cases”? Yup, you guessed it, this is a reference to the ridiculous prosecution of the Capitol kerfufflers, the out-of-control fraternity keg party in the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With almost a thousand people already charged, the Justice Department wants to charge maybe another thousand people. From The Washington Post:

The Jan. 6 investigation is the biggest in U.S. history. It’s only half done.

Nearly 1,000 people have been charged to date, and a federal courthouse strains to handle what may be years more of trials

By Spencer S. Hsu, Devlin Barrett and Tom Jackman | Saturday, March 18, 2023 | 9:00 AM EDT

The city’s federal court system is bracing for many years more of trials stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, with new charges possible against as many as 1,000 more people.

In recent months, law enforcement and judicial authorities have engaged in discussions to manage the huge volume of Jan. 6 cases without overwhelming the courthouse where pleas and trials are held, people familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal operations.

“It’s an enormous, enormous case and, by almost any measure, the largest case the Justice Department has ever had,” said Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at George Washington University. “Big criminal investigations that are far less complicated than this often take several years.”

Eliason said that while the riot cases may be about halfway over, there are indications some of the other branches of the investigation — like the false electors scheme or efforts to use Justice Department officials to undo the election results — appear to be further along, because the witnesses now being subpoenaed include some of the most thorny legal matters and the people closest to former president Donald Trump. Those are generally indicators that an investigation is nearing the end of the fact-gathering phase, he said.

“There are a lot of court fights over privilege, and those take time, and you can’t just plow past them and not try to get critical evidence,” Eliason said.

Prosecutors are hopeful many will be incentivized to plead to help manage the crush of cases, which already have strained the court in the nation’s capital. A Washington Post analysis of the cases so far shows defendants who seek a trial rather than plead guilty end up getting about a year of prison time added to their sentences.

In other words, in what the left have claimed was the greatest threat ever to the United States — as though the secession of states to form the Confederacy and December 7, 1941 never happened — the government are willing to let defendants plead down because there are so many of them.

Prosecutors frequently offer sweetheart plea deals to avoid the possibility of losing at trial, and defendants frequently accept them, to get a shorter sentence.

As of Wednesday, judges had sentenced 408 Jan. 6 defendants, but only 88 of those were for felonies, mostly for one of two charges: obstruction of an official proceeding or assault on law enforcement.

Defendants who pleaded guilty to assaulting the police have received an average sentence about 13 months lower than those convicted at trial, in part because their sentences were reduced when they received credit for accepting responsibility for their actions.

The misdemeanor convictions were frequently handled earlier, usually a single count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol,” 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) a charge which could result in probation or a sentence of up to six months in jail. The majority were charged with four crimes, as Merrick Garland, a man who absolutely hates Republicans for denying him a Supreme Court seat, piled it on:

• 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority. Since the Vinsons were not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
• 18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2) – Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds. Since the Vinsons were not accused of harming anyone or carrying a deadly weapon, the maximum punishment under (b)(2) is a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in any other case.
• 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) – Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building: utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 fine or up to six months in prison, or both.
• 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(G) – Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building; The penalty for violating 40 U.S.C. §5104(e)(2) is a misdemeanor conviction punishable by a maximum fine of $5,000 or up to six months in prison, or both.

Many, like Thomas and Lori Vinson, were sentenced to five years’ probation, fined $5,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $500, and were allowed to plead to only the fourth listed offense. The Vinsons said that they were very sorry for their actions, and the judge found their actions so serious that they were sentenced to spend exactly zero days in jail. Gracyn Courtright got 30 days, a year on probation, 60 hours of community service and a $500 restitution payment.

The first person actually convicted and sentenced took a plea bargain, and received probation, with no jail time, though she was held in jail for two days before she made bail.

Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49-year-old hair salon owner, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine. Washington, D.C., District Judge Royce Lamberth also ordered her to complete 40 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution.

Basically, she got nothing. Her conviction is a misdemeanor, not a felony, so she will not lose her right to vote for Republicans or keep and bear arms. Mrs Morgan-Lloyd received a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of her offense, which was: not very.

It also set the standard: Mrs Morgan-Lloyd was made to apologize, in exchange for her plea bargain:

Prior to sentencing, prosecutors said they found the sentence “appropriate,” despite what they called Morgan-Lloyd’s initial “ill-considered and misguided commentary,” in part because there was no evidence that she preplanned her attack or incited others, and because she worked with investigators, admitted to her actions, and expressed contrition.

Before receiving her sentence, Morgan-Lloyd tearfully apologized to the court for participating in what she called a “disgraceful” day.

“I went there to show support for President Trump peacefully, and I’m ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day,” Morgan-Lloyd said.

Simply put, she was terrorized into her guilty plea by two days in jail. She did not face any major charges for her role. The day after her sentencing, Mrs Morgan-Lloyd pretty much walked back everything she said in her ‘tearful’ apology.

Anna Morgan-Lloyd, the first defendant sentenced in the attack, told Fox News that she personally saw no violence on Jan. 6.

“Where I was at, we see nobody damage anything. People were actually very polite,” Morgan-Lloyd told Fox host Laura Ingraham.

The interview comes a day after Morgan-Lloyd said in court that she felt ashamed for the “savage display of violence” on Jan. 6. The Bloomfield woman traveled to D.C. that day with her friend Dona Sue Bissey for then-President Donald Trump’s rally before following the mob inside the Capitol for an estimated 10 minutes.

The next Republican President, who I very sincerely hope takes office on January 20, 2025, needs to pardon every last one of the Capitol kerfufflers, on his first full day in office. They have been brow-beaten, forced to pay attorney’s fees many couldn’t afford, and some pleaded guilty simply to get out of jail; a few who received six-month sentences had already spent six months locked up.
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