The Hill has a decent synopsis of what is happening with government prosecutions of the “foot soldiers” for the Jan 6th insurrection. Basically, tears are not cutting it with some of the judges when it comes to handing out prison sentences. However, if all else fails, the NYT is reporting that some of the Jan 6th insurrectionists are going for broke: they acted in “self defense” against “police brutality.”
Yeah, fuck “Blue Lives Matter!”
Let’s start with the sheer gall of playing “the Capitol Hill police are thugs!” card defense.
But one group of lawyers representing those accused of assaulting the police is planning to make a more audacious — and more difficult — legal claim: They say they intend to argue that the officers themselves used excessive force on Jan. 6 and that their clients merely responded, acting in defense of other people or in their own defense.
This approach, while in its early stages, has gathered steam in recent weeks as defense lawyers have made their way through thousands of hours of videos of the Capitol attack, some of which, they say, show acts of brutality by officers. The videos, which are not yet public, may be released at upcoming hearings and, the lawyers say, will reveal scenes of violence not only by the rioters but also by police…
At this point, about a half-dozen Jan. 6 defendants have signaled that they intend to mount a case that is based on self-defense or on the defense of others.
On Thursday, for example, a lawyer for Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer charged with assault, indicated that he was inclined to pursue a self-defense case and argue that officers at the Capitol struck first. That same day, prosecutors filed papers in the case of Robert Gieswein, a militia member from Colorado, asking a judge to bar all self-defense claims at a trial set for February, suggesting that they believed Mr. Gieswein might raise them.
Look! It’s Mr. Gieswein of Three Percenters fame! The same guy who wants to get away from his fellow insurrectionists!
Most of the defendants mulling self-defense claims were involved in the ferocious melee at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, where the fighting was worse than anywhere else on Jan. 6 and often resembled a kind of medieval warfare. For nearly three hours, officers there were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with rioters, some of them carrying flag poles, hockey sticks, bear spray and batons.
The first person to have said he would pursue a self-defense case was Edward Jacob Lang, a self-described social media influencer from New York. He has been charged with seven counts of assaulting officers, some with a riot shield and others with a baseball bat.
In court papers filed by his lawyer, Steven Metcalf, Mr. Lang said he became violent only after seeing several women in the mob being attacked by the police, including Rosanne Boyland, a Trump supporter who ultimately died. Mr. Lang has claimed that he tried unsuccessfully to save Ms. Boyland and has also said that he pulled another protester, Philip Anderson, to safety after he was sprayed by officers with an unknown orange gas that stopped his breathing.
“The police were heartlessly pushing people on top of each other creating this dogpile effect,” Mr. Lang said in a brief interview from a jail in Washington this month, “and people ended up dying.”
There is just one little problem with Mr. Lang’s description of events:
Mr. Lang’s claims have been met with equal skepticism.
At a hearing in September, Judge Carl J. Nichols pointed out that even after Jan. 6, Mr. Lang was still using violent language. Judge Nichols noted, for example, that in messages sent to an unknown associate, Mr. Lang wrote that he was getting “an arsenal together” for President Biden’s inauguration, adding, “This is war.”
Despite the fact that some officers in the crowd on Jan. 6 may have acted roughly, Judge Nichols went on, Mr. Lang was in the mob sparring with them for more than an hour before he sought to help Ms. Boyland or Mr. Anderson. That seemed to cut against the idea that he was helping others.
“I do not find this argument particularly persuasive,” Judge Nichols said.
Emphasis mine.
Here is more on the sainted Mr. Lang:
Rioter who hit police with a baseball bat loses bid for jail release
Edward Jacob Lang’s attorneys argue that they haven’t been able to communicate effectively with their client during the nine months he has been in jail, making it virtually impossible to mount a defense.
WASHINGTON (CN) — Despite the man's claims of abuse in jail and other issues, a federal judge refused Monday to order the release of a 26-year-old who fought police for over two hours during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
According to video evidence, some of which the upstate New York filmed himself, Edward Jacob Lang hit officers with an aluminum baseball bat and protective shields, and kicked an officer that was on the ground.
Lang has been charged with 13 counts, including several felonies, but his attorneys say the defendant was a source of help that day to people who were being trampled or beaten by police officers. One individual even credits Lang for saving his life. “There was no intention to actually harm. It was more warning signs, more trying to separate two crowds, more adrenaline,” said Steven Alan Metcalf, Lang’s attorney. "This is about him jumping into a chaotic situation and doing what he can.”
Batman to the rescue! Oh. He used that aluminum baseball bat on cops.
Well, I bet he is remorseful!:
Nichols also said that he had to deny the motion for release because Lang has not shown any remorse for his behavior at the insurrection, where the defendant was at the front of a mob and verbally encouraging violence.
“This conduct was not in a momentary heat of passion,” Nichols said. “This was conduct over the course of a couple of hours.”
Nichols is the judge in Lang’s case. You know you have shit all over yourself when the judge is saying you are not being remorseful. But it appears that Lang will step up to “Fuck the Police!” real soon.
Lang and the rest probably have heard what has happened to the criers and remorseful insurrectionists:
A seemingly genuine display of contrition before or during a sentencing hearing can help a rioter avoid a jail cell. The judges often cite remorse as a key factor in deciding sentences.
But Chutkan told Palmer that she couldn’t tell if his remorse was genuine.
“I can’t look into your heart or your mind,” the judge said. “The way you conduct your life after this case is going to speak volumes about whether you are truly remorseful.”
Anna Morgan-Lloyd, the first rioter to be sentenced, told Senior Judge Royce Lamberth in June that she was ashamed of the “savage display of violence” at the Capitol. A day later, however, the Indiana woman told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that people were “very polite” during the riot, that she saw “relaxed” police officers chatting with rioters and that she didn’t believe the Jan. 6 attack was an insurrection.
Her inconsistency didn’t escape Lamberth's notice. In a footnote to an order in another case, the judge said his “hopes have been recently dashed” when Morgan-Lloyd’s Fox interview “directly conflicted with the contrite statements that she made” to him.
Dona Sue Bissey’s case is one of only six in which prosecutors agreed to recommend probation without home detention. But instead, Chutkan sentenced her to 14 days in jail. The judge questioned whether Bissey, 53, of Indiana, truly was remorseful because she bragged about her participation in the riot.
“There must be consequences for taking part, even a small part, in a mass attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election and prevent the transfer of power,” said Chutkan, who was nominated by President Barack Obama.
All eight of the Jan. 6 defendants sentenced by Chutkan have received jail or prison terms. In all but one of those cases, the sentence that she handed down was stricter than prosecutors' recommendation.
The ones who pled first have pissed in the well of mercy for all the other insurrectionists. And there was that asshole Palmer who got five years in prison now. He was all so macho during the insurrection, but he literally cried like a baby during sentencing.
Here is a problem with claiming self defense from police violence. Most people side with cops during a riot. No, I do not agree with that assessment myself (I cannot help but think about those police riots during civil rights protests in the South), but lots of people, especially white ones, give the benefit of the doubt to police when it comes to using force. And the reason is it considered OK for the police to use violence on protestors is because 1) they are POC or 2) dirty fucking hippies.
None of those assholes at the Jan 6th insurrection were either 1 or 2.