Insurrectionist James Little of NC is going to jail for at least 60 days. For those who may not know or have forgotten James Little, here is my diary on Little’s attempt at an online campaign to send supportive letters to the sentencing judge. Little had pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building, and he was hoping that all those supportive letters would keep him out of jail. Instead, the sentencing judge got a letter from an acquitance of Little who basically told the judge, “Lock Him Up!”. While I would like to think it was this letter that helped send Little to jail, there were other factors involved in well.
Little can thank one of his fellow insurrectionists for helping him end up in jail.
A federal judge has sentenced a North Carolina man who texted friends and family and fist-bumped with fellow rioters while inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 has been sentenced to two months behind bars followed by three years of probation.
James “Les” Little, 51, pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building. He admitted that as he approached the Capitol that day, he had seen law enforcement use tear gas on the roiling crowd and told investigators he thought police had fired rubber bullets to push people back.
Despite personally witnessing that violence, however, he still entered the building.
Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Little on Monday that he believes a term of incarceration is “essential in these cases” relating to Jan. 6, when a mob of Donald Trump supporters broke through police lines and breached the Capitol building as Congress attempted to certify Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election.
“I believe some term of imprisonment is essential in these cases now to reflect the seriousness of the offense, respect for the law, and [to] provide just punishment,” Lamberth said.
Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, recalled the decision he made to sentence another Jan. 6 defendant to probation only—a decision he has clearly come to regret since that defendant, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, appeared to contradict the statements she made at her sentencing hearing when she was interviewed by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham the next day.
“The Court does not have confidence that the same would not happen in the next election cycle, and you’re going to be on probation during the next election cycle,” Lamberth told Little. “You will not be without court supervision during the next election cycle.”
Lamberth’s sentence exceeds the government’s request of 30 days in jail followed by three years of probation. It also places stringent limits on Little’s social media activity while on probation.
Emphasis is mine.
I had to laugh when I read Judge Lamberth admitted that he got conned by Anna Morgan-Lloyd. She had stated to Ingraham that she had not really READ the plea deal agreement, and Morgan-Lloyd admitted she only pled guilty to stay the hell out of jail. But Morgan-Lloyd was “Oh so sorry!’ before Judge Lamberth, until she got out of D.C.
Little needs to send a thank you note to Morgan-Lloyd.
And because of her deception with Judge Lamberth, it appears that all of her fellow insurrectionists will end up getting longer stays in jail if they appear in Lamberth’s court! And I still think that Little got off easy. Why? Because his lawyer argued that Little HAS AUTISM and did not understand what he had done wrong!
Adolf also implied that Little may have an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder that contributed to his decision to storm the Capitol, noting what he described as Little’s “awkward” interactions with friends and family members, and what Adolf described as a “child’s sense of fairness” that prevented him from accepting what he felt was a stolen presidential election.
“They didn’t have names for that back in the late 70s when he was being diagnosed” by a child psychologist, Adolf said. “He shows all the signs of those behaviors.”
Adolf, a federal public defender, added that he didn’t have Little professionally evaluated for autism spectrum disorder because he couldn’t see spending thousands of government dollars for sentencing on a petty offense.
This is so vile a defense. Yeah, it was Little’s lawyer who proposed this “defense,” but it is just disgusting that Little would go along with it to try and stay out of jail.
Judge Lamberth didn’t buy that line at all:
“Mr. Little is not a child,” prosecutor Michael James said in response to Adolf’s speculation, adding that there is no record of Little “suffering” from autism and that the pre-sentencing report noted that he is “emotionally stable,” aside from anxiety about his pending sentencing hearing.
“He’s not someone who is so blindly led [that] he didn’t know what was going on,” James said.
Little is an adult who decided to ignore information that didn’t confirm his stupidity. And Little is stupid. But being stupid has never been a defense for criminal actions.