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DOJ Crushes J6 Defendants, Excuses BLM Rioters Since ‘a Riot is the Language of the Unheard’

DOJ Crushes J6 Defendants, Excuses BLM Rioters Since ‘a Riot is the Language of the Unheard’

The BLM rioters are super duper special like COVID. Gotta treat them different than anyone else!

The Washington Examiner‘s Byron York pointed out the absurd treatment the DOJ doles out for those participating in BLM riots, even if murder or manslaughter is involved.

The absurd treatment is giving them light sentences while destroying the January 6 defendants for their riot, which didn’t hurt anyone or anything except for some feelings of sensitive politicians.

BLM Rioter Montez Lee

York brought up Montez Lee, a Rochester, MN, resident. On May 28, 2020, Lee and others broke into a pawn shop to “protest” the death of George Floyd. It ended in the death of a man who had five children:

Lee then poured a liquid, an accelerant, from a can all across the floor. Lee then lit the fire. More video showed him boasting shortly afterward about what he had done. “F*** this place,” Lee said. “We’re gonna burn this bitch down.” Video then showed, according to government documents, Lee and others “joking about restaurants they are going to ‘hit’ next.”

The store lay in ruins. Then, a few days later, a woman reported that her son was missing. Police discovered that his car had been found near the pawn shop. They searched the rubble and found the body of Oscar Stewart, a 30-year-old man who had five children. An autopsy showed that Stewart died of burns and smoke inhalation. The death was ruled a homicide.

Lee had a lengthy rap sheet, including burglary, assault, and theft. Lee pled guilty to one count of arson, which is a felony. That’s it. But that charge alone meant 20 years in prison.

Instead, the DOJ recommended Lee get 12 years. The judge decided on 10 years.

10 years for ransacking and burning down a store, along with a man losing his life. No manslaughter charge? In cases of felony murder where the defendant did not “intentionally or knowingly” cause the death of someone, “a downward departure may be warranted.”

How does one choose a departure? The “extent of the departure should be based upon the defendant’s state of mind (e.g., recklessness or negligence), the degree of risk inherent in the conduct, and the nature of the underlying offense conduct.”

Lee was such a good boy for admitting his actions to the ATF and taking responsibility! Plus, you guys, the riots showed us “people who felt angry, frustrated, and disenfranchised, and who were attempting, in many cases in an unacceptably reckless and dangerous manner, to give voice to those feelings.”

After all, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said that “we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard.”

A Bunch of J6 Defendants

The authorities arrested Nathan Earl Hughes of Fayetteville, AR, last week. He faces a felony offense of civil disorder and “misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and impeding passage through the Capitol grounds or buildings.”

What did Hughes do? Nothing violent or deadly like Lee:

Court documents say that, at various points, Hughes pushed against the police line in the tunnel and helped other rioters physically fight police in an attempt to breach the line and enter the U.S. Capitol building. At approximately 3:15 p.m., Hughes was at the mouth of the tunnel and signaled the crowd of rioters, “C’mon! C’mon!” while waving his hand in the direction of the tunnel. After signaling to the crowd, Hughes entered the tunnel and charged toward the police line.

Inside the tunnel, Hughes continued to signal others to enter and confront the police line. Hughes then stood shoulder-to-shoulder with others and began to rock back and forth in a synchronized movement with the crowd. At about 3:18 p.m., Hughes assisted the mob with forcefully removing police riot shields and passing them out of the tunnel. Hughes also personally attempted to forcefully pull away police shields and pass them out of the tunnel back to the other rioters.

At approximately 3:19 p.m., as Hughes was being forced out of the tunnel by police, he was observed using his elbow to strike in the direction of police. After he was pushed out of the tunnel, Hughes remained in the vicinity of the tunnel for at least 90 minutes, encouraging other rioters to “Pull them out!” Earlier in the day, Hughes had witnessed the mob forcibly pulling police officers from the tunnel and into the crowd.

In my post, literally published a day before York’s post, I wrote this rhetorical statement: “I don’t know why the FBI keeps doing this because it just reinforces every non-leftist’s knowledge that they are treated differently than the BLM, ANTIFA, and every other leftist rioter.”

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Comments

The so-called crime was a simple matter of equity. Why should the pawn broker have three balls, and Montez only two?

They’re making examples of the J6 defendants to show the rest of the country what happens when you show up in person to protest government. It’s fine to burn down a gas station or loot a store to protest government policies but don’t you dare push over a barrier and take selfies in the Capitol.

    Paddy M in reply to Sanddog. | September 7, 2023 at 11:22 am

    Only thing I’d add is they’re showing what happens when non-communists show up to protest the government. During Summer of Love 2020, the communists ran wild and forced Trump into the bunker and injured over 100 cops, but that’s different.

    henrybowman in reply to Sanddog. | September 7, 2023 at 1:26 pm

    Robbing and killing citizens and shopkeepers is excusable.
    Taking selfies in the offices of queens and princes is not.

    Azathoth in reply to Sanddog. | September 7, 2023 at 2:13 pm

    Is that what they’re doing?

    So when you storm the supreme court, take over the Senate office building or attack the White House it’s not ‘protesting government’?

    When you physically attack sitting congresspeople, that’s not ‘protesting government’?

    They are making examples of the J6 patriots, but not for protesting government.

    Concise in reply to Sanddog. | September 7, 2023 at 7:03 pm

    Whether one supports President Trump or not, this hyper partisan DOJ needs to brought to heel. They’ve gotten away with pretending to be a pseudo independent branch of government for too long. And now we’re seeing the results. Frankly can’t understand why the GOP can’t seem to grasp this.

    InEssence in reply to Sanddog. | September 7, 2023 at 11:33 pm

    Except Trump’s inaugural. Those guys did all kinds of damage and tried to stop the inaugural. They were all let go.

If a riot is the Language of the Unheard.
Why doesn’t that go for the unheard Trump rioters?
Are you only unheard if you are preapproved as unheard?

    Lucifer Morningstar in reply to Martin. | September 7, 2023 at 12:17 pm

    You’re only an “Unheard Rioter” if you’re black. If you’re any other color (<–read White) then you are a "domestic terrorist" and must have your life destroyed and be imprisoned for a significant amount of time.

    So the BLM terrorists literally get away with murder while the J6 protesters receive decades long federal prison sentences for non-violent offenses.

    The Republic is dead! Long live the Banana Republic of the United States of America!

Well I’m a little bit surprised the DoJ and Judge said the quiet part out loud. It confirms there is a two tiered justice system and that some pigs are more equal. Which is ironically in many ways why those folks were at the capital on J6 to begin with. Rich Men North of Richmond strike back.

10 years for arson by a career criminal is disgusting, but the irony of the author engaging in the same two-tiered treatment she’s complaining about ruins the message.

Contrary to the author’s claim a lot of police officers were injured and damage was done during the January 6 riot.

The best bit of irony is when the author claims that Hughes “did nothing violent or deadly” then quotes the legal complaint accusing him of doing exactly that: inciting a riot, assaulting police and assisting others in doing the same, and attempting to rob police of their equipment and assisting others in doing the same. The inciting a riot included explicitly exhorting the crowd to drag officers from into the crowd where they would be beaten without being able to defend themselves which is deadly force. This link has two videos which show the violence faced by police at the tunnel where Hughes is accusing of participating: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/police-capitol-injuires-trump/2021/01/11/ca68e3e2-5438-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html

    “…the irony of the author engaging in the same two-tiered treatment she’s complaining about …”

    The author is an officer of the court and refused to sentence Hughes? Huh.

    Montez Lee committed murder and got away with it.
    Capitol police murdered two J6 protestors and got away with it.

      GravityOpera in reply to alien. | September 7, 2023 at 7:26 pm

      I was referring to the mindset and mentality of complaining about one crime while dismissing another based on politics rather than objective truth. Your reading comprehension is good enough to understand that, if you wanted to.

      Yes, Montez murdered someone and got away with it. That is disgusting, as I already said, and does not negate anything else I said.

      No rioters were murdered by the police during J6.

        “No rioters were murdered by the police during J6.”

        Partial credit — Babbitt and Boyland weren’t rioting. But they were murdered.

          GravityOpera in reply to alien. | September 8, 2023 at 3:11 am

          When and how did the police force feed Boyland enough amphetamines to kill her?

          Babbitt was part of a group that menaced uniformed police officers until they abandoned their post, beat in windows with impact weapons, and was the first to take advantage of the destruction to penetrate the improvised barricade. That’s rioting.

    alaskabob in reply to GravityOpera. | September 7, 2023 at 12:34 pm

    Who truly stoked the fires of J6? Looking back to Ukraine…. the cops fueled the riots…er….. protests (mostly peaceful) by shooting people. There is enough evidence that coordinated violence from within the crowds and the police stoked the explosion that was Ukraine during the ouster of the Russian leaning government. As for quote WaPo….. they also pushed the “murder” of the cop and the “suicides” of the other cops after. Quoting WaPo is quoting a Party Organ.

      GravityOpera in reply to alaskabob. | September 7, 2023 at 7:30 pm

      What does Ukraine have to do with anything?

      I explicitly referenced the videos at that link. Unless you believe that WaPo faked them your response is off target.

        WaPo — “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is not their motto.

        It’s their mission statement.

        Quoting them as if they were a reliable source undermines what little credibility you might have once had.

        alaskabob in reply to GravityOpera. | September 7, 2023 at 7:58 pm

        If, for one minute, you think that the J6 uprising was planned by Trump and totally executed without pre-planned amplification and redirection by the Feds ….you are sadly duped. I was illustrating how crowds can be “nudged” especially if provocative measures can be taken. Here we have the masters of overthrow directed by the Left/Deep State…. taking down whole governments….. then directed to do the same with Trump and his supporters. It all will boil down to whether your “pronouns” are “comrade” or “brother”. Even Winston Smith learned to love Big Brother.

    Mauiobserver in reply to GravityOpera. | September 7, 2023 at 2:40 pm

    The vast majority of people convicted and financially ruined by J6 convictions committed no violence or property damage. They walked into an open capital building and left after a short period mostly just milling around. In fact, some were actually waved into the building and the crazy guy with the horn headgear was actually escorted (Tucker showed the whole tape) but served over 2 years in prison including the time before trial where he like many others was denied bail.

    Many of the people convicted and even those serving time are elderly including women who not only did not commit violence but were largely incapable of causing any unless they had firearms. Despite years of attempts by the Feds to find evidence of protestors with guns the only evidence of a firearm being carried by a protester was by a federal law enforcement officer required to carry who assisted other offices but was prosecuted and harassed for his wrong beliefs.

    We don’t know who started the violence in the tunnel, but the video shown clearly shows one defenseless woman being beaten to death and a number of men being beaten and struggling as they try to pull her away unsuccessfully. We also have another video of a male officer beating another woman who was not fighting with his club and his fists. She survived and was led off handcuffed bleeding from the face and head without medical attention.

    We also have video of an incompetent officer shooting a small, unarmed woman at point blank range even though there is a police swat team standing just a few feet behind her. This man has just recently been promoted and his been praised for his bravery by GOPe Senators.

    There is video showing officers firing projectiles and gas from the elevated level into the at that time peaceful though loud crowd.

    Were there violent protestors? Yes. Should they be prosecuted? Yes Should they be treated as terrorists and sentenced to long prison sentences for just that conduct? No they should be treated fairly by the justice system and serve sentences along the same lines as the Trump inauguration rioters or all the BLM and Antifa rioters.

    The folks that walked into the capitol and did no other criminal act should be treated no worse than the code pink folks who have disrupted many Congressional hearings, or the protestors and Democrat Congress members who disrupted Supreme court nomination hearings, or the Democrat politicians who either chanted and sat down in front of the podium to disrupt a Congressional vote.

      GravityOpera in reply to Mauiobserver. | September 8, 2023 at 3:46 am

      – If you have to kick expended tear gas grenades out of the way as you walk around knocked over barricades before entering a building with broken windows then the place isn’t open.
      – Women, including elderly ones, are capable of violence or providing distraction or other assistance to those who are violent.
      – No, the videos don’t show that. They show that the violent attacks prevented the police from reaching Boyland and providing first aid. The outside video even shows an officer being pulled into the crowd and being beaten while down. There is video showing police medics attempting to provide aid to her after she had finally been pulled behind the protection of police lines. (If you don’t believe me grab a stick and mimic the accused officer then intentionally strike something on the ground. Those claims are ridiculous.)
      – The SWAT guys were halfway down the stairs not right behind her, the officer was so incompetent he did not have the x-ray vision needed to see them approaching, and Babbitt was part of a mob and her death should be evaluated as disparity of force due to being outnumbered. (PS Babbitt had a knife with her and was therefore armed. The officer didn’t know so it is irrelevant to the justification. Just an FYI so you stop spreading that lie.)
      – “Violent protestors” aka rioters should be treated justly. Justly means punishment objectively appropriate to the crime(s) committed not “But Mo-o-o-om Johnny’s parents let him do it!” As a kid that argument was — at best — a waste of breath. (Yes, I am calling your “fairness” idea literally childish.)

        According to the downvotes you’re receiving, I’d say that your attempts to “win friends and influence people” have as much credibility as your arguments do.

        None.

          GravityOpera in reply to alien. | September 10, 2023 at 2:53 am

          Downvotes without counter-argument mean that uncomfortable truths were spoken. I even got two downvotes for asking for video evidence of an alleged incident.

      GravityOpera in reply to Mauiobserver. | September 8, 2023 at 4:02 am

      “We also have another video of a male officer beating another woman who was not fighting with his club and his fists. She survived and was led off handcuffed bleeding from the face and head without medical attention.”
      I hadn’t heard this claim before and skimmed past it assuming it referred to Boyland. Do you have a link to this video?

    CountMontyC in reply to GravityOpera. | September 7, 2023 at 5:02 pm

    Perhaps we might understand better if they released the footage from inside the Capitol. You know the footage that they have kept hidden for the last three years.

      GravityOpera in reply to CountMontyC. | September 7, 2023 at 7:36 pm

      I would also like all of the video released. Even so there is sufficient video already available to back up my position so I don’t understand the purpose of your reply.

        alaskabob in reply to GravityOpera. | September 7, 2023 at 8:02 pm

        The Feds are going after everyone they can find and “punish” everyone…. videos prove that…. The Feds even misidentified people…. with the FBI and Capitol Police flying to Homer, Alaska… breaking down the couple’s door in a raid. Absolute obedience is required of some… others…none.

        “I’ve already made up my mind about what happened, so I don’t need to see any more video as it might contradict my preconceptions.”

        Noted.

          GravityOpera in reply to alien. | September 9, 2023 at 4:53 am

          There is already video of rioters rioting. There isn’t magically going to be video of the same location at the same time with the same people singing kumbaya and high-fiving the cops.

I think that definition counts for J6 especially the people jailed who were not even in DC that day. what happened to the lie of the left “giving a voice to the voiceless”?

    henrybowman in reply to 2smartforlibs. | September 7, 2023 at 4:26 pm

    When this does happen, you will find that the voiceless were voiceless because the left has its hand tightly over their mouth as it purports to speak for them.

I tried to look up disparate sentencing based on political affiliation. If I can think of a topic, generally some smart person has already done research, studies, written a paper. There is a ton of stuff on disparate sentencing based on race. The situation we face now with crime is partially a result of that.. Why hasn’t anyone looked at this bs. We all see it, plain as day… How can the legal universe turn a blind eye? Maybe I missed it.

I don’t buy the current notion of a two tiered system. If justice isn’t meticulously level,, which includes sentencing, then it does not exist.

    gibbie in reply to amwick. | September 7, 2023 at 1:10 pm

    You’re right. Nothing in Google. Nothing in Bing. Not even in Duck.

    The only political disparities mentioned are those due to Republican judges on blacks.

    So no problem!

    healthguyfsu in reply to amwick. | September 7, 2023 at 6:08 pm

    No one has looked into it because you have to have funding to do such research and no one in charge of the dollars wants to fund that research.

    randian in reply to amwick. | September 7, 2023 at 8:04 pm

    Also a ton of data on disparate sentencing based on sex.

Over the last several years, there have been many stories that speak directly to government dysfunction that shock conscience. But, this one may stand out above all the rest. That the same government that has gone scorched-earth against the J6ers will, at the very same time, do what they’ve done here, is quite remarkable…in the worst way imaginable. This is not how stable, mature democracies behave.

Apparently petitioning the government for the redress of grievances involves burning down cities and looting stores, and violent extremist attempts to overthrow the government involves standing on the grass in front (or back, as Brandon Straka found out) of the Capitol.

If you don’t think Antifa, BLM and the FBI are the goons of the democrat/GOPe party you’re really, REALLY not thinking critically.

I’m so sick of this, so disgusted…
These are horrible times, led by ( real) horrible people…

Regarding Montez Lee, a federal murder charge would require showing “reckless indifference to human life.” Lee had tried to make sure the building was empty before setting it on fire, so a murder charge would probably not survive challenge. Ten years is below the recommended sentence, but still a stiff penalty.

Regarding Earl Hughes, he allegedly obstructed police during a civil disorder, but he is unlikely to receive nearly as long a sentence; especially if, like Lee, he accepts responsibility and pleads guilty. The events of J6 were an attempt to impede the legal transfer of presidential power, so was more than a riot in lieu of a protest. Hughes is out on bail.

I guess we can now say that the vile, criminal-coddling Dumb-o-crats have introduced the concepts of “mostly peaceful arson” and “mostly peaceful homicide” into the criminal code lexicon.