An object lesson in American judicial values.
N.J. gym owner, Seattle man are first to plead guilty to assaulting police in Capitol attack
A New Jersey gym owner and a Washington state man on Friday became the first people to plead guilty to assaulting police in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, facing what they acknowledged in plea deals could be roughly three to five years in prison under sentencing guidelines.
The agreements by Scott K. Fairlamb, 44, of Sussex, N.J., and Devlyn D. Thompson, 28, of Seattle, set potential benchmarks for what at least 165 defendants charged with assaulting or impeding officers could expect if they cooperate.
[Not that they don't deserve at least five years for what they did, but these are the proverbial foot soldiers. They will be the ones to bear the burden of the legal consequences of this attempt to overthrow American Democracy. The generals who ordered the attack will, as high-ranking officers always do, get off with no prison time, no fines, no penalties whatsoever.
This tells you something: Even a child knows that the way to win a war like this is to remove the dragon's head. Instead, they are trimming the dragon's toenails. ("Would you like a little gloss on those?") Their failure to remove the dragon's head tells you they don't want the dragon's activities to stop.]
... Fairlamb entered the Capitol through a kicked-down Senate wing door about two minutes after an adjacent window was first broken by rioters about 2:13 p.m., he acknowledged in plea papers.
... Fairlamb pleaded guilty to two of 12 indicted counts, both felonies: assaulting an officer and obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. The first charge is punishable by up to eight years and the obstruction charge by 20 years.
[Hmmm... 8 years plus 20 years = "three to five years". Yeah, that math checks out: They're even treating the foot soldiers with kid gloves. At this rate, the "punishment" for the leader of this coup is likely to be a free stay in the Executive Office for life.]
... Prosecutors agreed to drop the other counts, which included rioting, trespassing and violent disorder.
[Right. And if these charges had been included, then the penalties would no doubt have exceeded 20 + 8 = 28 -- er, I mean 3...5 -- years. "A reduced sentence is a standard part of a plea deal," a lawyer would no doubt tell us. But isn't that the kind of deal a prosecutor makes when they have little real evidence? "Well, there are just too many of them to take any one prosecution too seriously. Like it or not, the judicial system just doesn't have the resources." So let me get this straight: If I, and say, 10,000 friends commit genocide, then you'll let us off with parking violations because "the judicial system just candle the volume?" I'll bet the answer to that question would depend on just whom we subjected to genocide. No doubt most of the GOP would consider such an act a public service (assuming the right people were "genocided").]
... Fairlamb’s recommended sentencing range is 41 to 51 months in prison, but is not binding on U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who set sentencing for Sept. 27.
Fairlamb has been held pending trial since his Jan. 22 arrest. In a detention order for Fairlamb, Lamberth wrote, “Even among other rioters, the defendant’s aggression stood out.”
Fairlamb has prior convictions for illegal possession of a handgun and simple and aggravated assault, according to plea papers.
[So it's even worse than it appears at first. Fairlamb was one of the worst offenders, and he has priors, and even he is getting off with only a tiny fraction of what the law allows.
The US government doesn't want to prosecute these crimes. They know that if they don't punish them, then maybe Trump will try again. It seems they're hoping he'll do a better job of it next time.]
#CapitolAttack #GuiltyPleas #USCoupAttempt2021 #JanuaryCoup #TrumpLegacy