More Cases Dismissed by Prosecutors for Inauguration Day Riots
“All of the charges were dismissed with prejudice”
The people who allegedly engaged in rioting on Inauguration Day 2017 in Washington, DC just scored more victories. The message being sent to the left is loud and clear.
Keith L. Alexander reports at the Washington Post:
Prosecutors dismiss three additional cases in Inauguration Day riots
Federal prosecutors announced late Friday they were dismissing three additional rioting cases against defendants in the 2017 Inauguration Day protests of President Trump.
The dismissals came a day after D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin ordered seven cases to be dismissed against defendants who were charged in the Jan. 20, 2017, riots after determining the lead prosecutor intentionally misrepresented information and withheld evidence from the defense.
Late Friday, prosecutors said they planned to dismiss charges in the three remaining cases that were scheduled to go to trial this week.
Prosecutors dismissed the charges of engaging in a riot and two counts of destruction of property for Phillip Glaser, Christian Valencia and Arturo Vasquez. Prosecutors also dismissed Glaser’s additional charges of resisting arrest and assault on a police officer. Morin had already dismissed the conspiracy to riot charge against the three on Thursday.
All of the charges were dismissed with prejudice, which means they cannot be reinstated by prosecutors.
On Monday, another defendant was cleared. Ryan J. Reilly of The Huffington Post:
Jury Finds Yet Another Trump Inauguration Protester Not Guilty Of Felony Charges
A jury found a defendant arrested on President Donald Trump’s inauguration day not guilty of rioting charges on Monday, another setback in the Justice Department’s attempt to convict protesters of felonies stemming from property destruction in the nation’s capital as Trump took office.
Casey Webber was one of more than 200 people arrested en masse after black-clad demonstrators smashed windows in downtown Washington. Prosecutors originally charged more than 200 people with felonies in connection with the destruction. But after a jury acquitted the first group of defendants on all charges, prosecutors in January dropped charges against 129 other defendants, saying they’d instead focus on a “core group” of 59 defendants they said were most responsible for the destruction…
April Downs, a lawyer representing Webber, told HuffPost after the verdict that she believes the government should never have brought a case against her client.
“He is a Quaker, and he acted like one throughout,” Downs said. “He was completely non-violent and always acted that way and spoke that way.”
This tweet from Reilly is also rather troubling:
Dramatic moment as the second #J20 trial went to the jury.
A juror passed a note to the judge saying someone had written “Google jury nullification” in the bathroom stall.
She did. Then she told the other jurors what she read. And they talked about it.
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) May 31, 2018
Why are we even bothering to prosecute these people? None of them will be punished.
See our prior coverage:
- Six Inauguration Day ‘Protestors’ Found Not Guilty On All Charges
- Prosecutors Drop Charges Against 129 Inauguration Day Rioters
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Comments
“Why are we even bothering to prosecute these people? None of them will be punished.”
It’s for the benefit of people like me. We need to know that every legal remedy was attempted before we act. Helps us sleep at night.
“When the responsible authorities fail to act, other forms of authority will assert themselves. They may not behave responsibly, but they will act” – Insty
Exactly. Because these are not protests. They are planned riots.
You cannot seat a jury in Washington DC that will convict. They applaud the rioters.
We used to be a nation of laws, we are now ruled by lawlessness. People who break laws are held above the law. While we have Herr Mueller using ever more extraordinary tactics against whomever he can to try to “flip” them – even if they are willing to lie – in order to bring Trump down.
I cannot imagine that protestors who acted in the ways these protestors did, yet protested against Duh One would have gotten off like this.
Our country’s laws are being flouted and those committing crimes of political nature, provided they are for the “correct” political side, are let go.
I fear more and more for what this country is becoming.
Not a lawyer, but I fail to understand why what Mueller is doing is not out right witness intimidation or bribing a witness.
It doesn’t help when the “Department of Justice” is setting a horrible example by being primarily engaged in breaking or avoiding the law.
I agree completely. At the same time, we are not acting like a nation of laws when prosecutors feel free to intentionally misrepresent information and withhold evidence from the defense. In the long run, that kind of misconduct is every bit as destructive as the riots. Whether or not the prosecutions were dismissed, the prosecutors should be. They should then be disbarred and prosecuted. Even if we knew for a fact that all of the accused rioters are guilty, we cannot afford to railroad them any more than we can tolerate the attempted railroading of the Duke lacrosse players.
(Stepping down from my soapbox in 3- 2- 1- )
One little problem with your summary – the Duke LaCrosse players did not rape or assault the exotic dancer. There was a riot in DC. In one case, there was no crime. In the other case, there was a crime. It’s a matter of prosecuting the correct individuals. But someone must be guilty because there was a crime.
Riots are victory marches. If you’re brave enough to riot you know consequences will be de minimis.
My PolySci Professor taught that protest marches are the weakest and least effective way to affect change. If you are out on the streets chanting slogans, you have no power.
They are no way to effect change only to fire up the base or rub the opposition’s nose in a loss.
I’m normally a little discouraged by “The process is the punishment” as a way to deter crime. In this case, maybe not.
Filtering out the devils from the angels (or simply guilty bystanders) should be a matter of ‘what behavior do you want to reward, and what behavior do you want to discourage.’ The ‘demonstrator’ caught in the wrong area with broken glass all around, who submits to being detained, produces ID, posts a modest bail, and returns (or sends his lawyer) to court on the date of the hearing should be rewarded by having the charges dropped.
The ‘thug’ who is likewise arrested, fights the police, refuses to identify himself, shouts threats into the officer’s body camera, etc… should find himself facing ‘assault on a police officer’ charges totally separate from the other charges being dropped right and left against his companions. He will not enjoy the resulting process, but his behavior is what caused it.
Hit a cop, go to jail. It’s as simple as that.
I agree. In this case, the process was the punishment. I doubt any of those accused found the process to be pleasant, or didn’t spend a lot of time worrying before their case was dropped.
Well, we know from CA, NC and VA that corrupt politicians will order police to stand down and allow marxist thugs to beat us.
Now DC has taught us the marxist thugs that riot can break the law without consequence.
Any questions? I recommend the AR15. It’s practical, versatile, with an effective range of 500 yards, and enough stopping power to scatter a gang of home invaders.
The AK has looser tolerances (max eff range 300 yards), but preferable in a Zombie Post-Apoc scenario where can’t access 2nd tier maintenance techs. You can litterally throw it in the mud, run over it with your truck, pick it up and fire without jamming. It’s designed for guerrilla warriors who aren’t disciplined enough to PMCS their weapons.
Hands off that 50 cal. It’s mine.
Mob rules. Plain and simple.
I feel bad for DownVote Guy. Every day, every thread, he’s the (deep voice on) one man who stands against the wall tide (voice off). Must be frustrating, must be lonely. But he’s too shy to voice his disagreement with commentary. So alone.
So I invite everyone to DownVote this post in a display of community for our DownVote Guy. This could be the lifeline that keeps him from jumping today. 🙁
DV Guy is the grifter. Zachriel probably does too, but he doesn’t come often enough (slacker).
Clear message to the left? Why isn’t this a clear message to the prosecutors: do not intentionally misrepresent information and withhold evidence from the defense?
Quite certain any rioters on Jan 20, 2009 would have been prosecuted and found guilty. But there weren’t any, destroying because of a disagreement is a hallmark of the Left and rarely seen by people with any sanity.
“Why are we even bothering to prosecute these people?”
Because stopping the left’s descent into systematic political violence is the gravest law enforcement need at this point in history. Conservatives can’t walk down the street in half the cities in America without getting violently attacked. Conservatives in blue states have to keep Trump bumper stickers off their cars or they will be vandalized. Rally for free speech and black masked mobs armed with knives and clubs will attack en masse. Just happened this weekend in Portland with no federal response at all. Is Sessions recusing himself from this too?
We are devolving into 2 separate legal systems (see CA).
Time to split the country before it gets really violent.
1) It is already violent.
2) But it is nowhere near as violent as it is going to get.
Proprietorial misconduct?
It’s almost like they threw the cases on purpose. I’m sure there’s a remedy for that…
“It’s almost like they threw the cases on purpose.”
That’s my take on it as well.
I believe it was mentioned that none of the Leftist rioters would face any punishment back when they were arrested. Turns out that was right. Which fact will have to be taken into account in any future encounters.
People would certainly be tried and jailed if we could just get them to claim that rioting is a microaggression.
Gee, it’s almost like the prosecutors aren’t even trying.