- cross-posted to:
- usa@kbin.social
- cross-posted to:
- usa@kbin.social
The first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol building during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack was convicted on Friday of charges that he interfered with police and obstructed Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Michael Sparks, 46, of Kentucky, jumped through a shattered window moments after another rioter smashed it with a stolen riot shield. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs, one of the most harrowing images from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
A federal jury in Washington, D.C., convicted Sparks of all six charges that he faced, including two felonies. Sparks didn’t testify at his weeklong trial. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is scheduled to sentence him on July 9.
Sparks was the “tip of the spear” and breached the Capitol building less than a minute before senators recessed to evacuate the chamber and escape from the mob, Justice Department prosecutor Emily Allen said during the trial’s closing arguments.
I just… Cannot stop being furious and confused as to why the charges brought against the jan 6 rioters are so… ridiculously gentle. Anyone who has been in the court system can tell you it’s standard practice these days for prosecutors to engage in charge stacking, yet these guys, nearly every one of them, get kid gloves?
Placed up against the infamous trial against the chicago 7 it is even more unbelievable that a “protester” proven to have broken into one of the highest houses of government and gave chase to an officer guarding that institution is given such light charges.
The 1% want to bring back slavery
They’re white.
So were the Chicago 7 iirc. There’s a great movie about the trial starring Sasha Baron Cohen if you don’t mind pausing for rage breaks during.
It’s because the “justice” system is stacked with right-wing terrorist sympathizers at all levels.
…and they want the sentences to be below the bar so the sympathizers won’t feel it’s worth “outing” themselves as seditious scum, so each one will pass.
Better the light sentence that sticks vs the proper sentence that gets bounced.
From the notable sentences section on Wikipedia.
Thanks for pulling all of these together