Free Republic

People swept up in the Department of Justice’s January 6 dragnet have been getting extraordinarily harsh sentences. While daily headlines are filled with stories of repeat offenders walking away with slaps on the wrist following brutal crimes, the January 6 defendants, almost every one of whom had no previous criminal record (that I’m aware of), were being sent away for years simply for having stepped onto Capitol grounds. These were insane sentences compared to what happened to violent and destructive Antifa and BLM protestors. Now, though, a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a unanimous decision, held that the prosecutors...

A D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued a ruling Friday that could impact scores of prison terms handed down to rioters convicted and sentenced for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The three-judge panel ruled that defendants convicted of obstructing the congressional certification had received improper enhancements of their sentences from district court judges who determined their actions amounted to "substantial interference with the 'administration of justice.'" The challenge to the enhancement was brought in the case of convicted rioter Larry Brock, who was sentenced in 2023 to two years in prison for his felony...

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that an enhancement charge used against Jan. 6 defendants to lengthen their sentences couldn’t apply to the Capitol protest. In a unanimous opinion from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Patricia Millett, an Obama appointee, said prosecutors’ use of a “substantial interference with the administration of justice” charge to enhance the prison sentence of Larry Brock was too broad. “We hold that the ‘administration of justice’ enhancement does not apply to interference with the legislative process of certifying electoral votes,” wrote Judge Millett.... The ruling could affect other Jan. 6 defendants who...

A retired Air Force veteran who was photographed carrying zip-tie handcuffs while storming the U.S. Capitol building earlier this month has been freed from jail. The rioter—retired Lt. Col. Larry Rendall Brock Jr.—was arrested on Sunday in Texas after being photographed on the Senate floor during the siege... ...Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton said he would release the former lieutenant colonel, 53, to home confinement. Brock was ordered to surrender any firearms and the judge said he would have limited internet access under his confinement.

A retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel photographed carrying zip-tie handcuffs inside the Capitol during last week’s riot planned to take hostages, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. In wielding the restraints, Larry Brock “means to take hostages. He means to kidnap, restrain, perhaps try, perhaps execute members of the U.S. government,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Weimer. Weimer, who at Thursday’s hearing argued Brock should be detained, did not elaborate on his allegations. The prosecutor read a social media post from Brock the day of the siege, in which he says, “Patriots on the Capitol. Patriots storming. Men with guns...

"An Air Force combat veteran has been fired after he was reportedly identified as one of the Capitol rioters carrying zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor Wednesday." "At least two researchers told the New Yorker that they had identified Brock through facial recognition technology. The researchers did not immediately respond to requests for comment."