Nice angle for a headline….
But it doesn’t touch the realty of the criminal justice system…
Federal jails can’t handle 700 people locked up at a time….
Nor could they or DOJ handle hundreds of trials…
And any lawyer will tell you their best defense in court is TIME from the offence….
The judge of course is right…
(And knows the above also)
It comes off as a slap on the wrist for people trying to derail an election….
A federal judge thrashed the Justice Department on Thursday for offering “petty offense” plea deals to Jan. 6 defendants who she said tarnished America’s reputation in the world and enabled violent rioters to threaten the peaceful transfer of power — even if they committed no violence themselves.
Beryl Howell, the chief judge of the federal District Court in Washington, D.C., said prosecutors appeared “almost schizophrenic” in describing the insurrection in extreme terms but then settling for second-tier misdemeanor plea agreements with dozens of defendants.
“This is a muddled approach by the government,” said Howell, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “I’m trying to make sense of the government’s position here.”
Howell then made clear that she considered all participants in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach — which the Justice Department now estimates at 2,000 to 2,500 people — enablers of an assault against the republic….
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Howell’s harsh words for the Justice Department came as she sentenced Jack Griffith of Tennessee to three years probation for breaching the Capitol for about 10 minutes on Jan. 6 amid the broader attack. Prosecutors had asked for a three-month jail term for Griffith, who faced a maximum of six months on the charge he pleaded guilty to, of “parading” or demonstrating inside the Capitol.
Howell’s decision was a highly anticipated milestone in the wide-ranging prosecution of more than 700 Jan. 6 defendant…
…
The judge indicated she considered the sentence she imposed on Griffith relatively light, but said it was the result of prosecutors’ decisions to resolve his case and others….
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During the lengthy sentencing hearing, Howell also emphasized that some of the judges have felt “played” by defendants who received light sentences by expressing remorse, only to recant after their cases were resolved….
I’m not surprised by any of this but it does point out how broken our criminal justice system is and why it requires either radical reform or billions of dollars to perform within the present system.
Few people understand I agree Jack….
And it’s place few REALLY want much to do with…
No they don’t and one reason is that within the framework of the United States Constitution (as interpreted by various courts over the past 200+ years ) and the various state Constitutions its essentially an insoluble problem.
So we will proceed within this broken system that everyone ,who is part of it well understands how truly broken it is, while mouthing the deceit that things are working just fine.
Based on my over 45 years as part of the deceit,the wonder is that it functions at all!
But it was designed 300 years ago to actually be different branches push and pulling at each other…..
And up to FDR?
The Federal Government never was as far reaching as it is in modern times
All of that is true but here we are and all people of the left and right want to do is criticize the players….
The cops,the Judges, the lawyers…
They never want to look at the system itself .
Update…
Capitol Rioter Gets 41 Months for Punching Police Officer
A New Jersey man who punched a police officer during the January 6 Capitol riot was sentenced to 41 months in prison on Wednesday, CNN reports.
There are roughly 200 more police assault cases from the January 6 riot.