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Judge Overrules Prosecutors, Sides with Jan 6 Defendant at Sentencing: ‘I’m Giving You a Real Break Here’
https://slaynews.com ^ | October 27, 2022 | David Hawkins

Posted on 10/27/2022 8:48:17 AM PDT by Red Badger

A federal judge has overruled prosecutors and sided with a Jan. 6 defendant by refusing to hand down a prison sentence during sentencing.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden showed compassion for Nicholas Rodean of Frederick, Maryland.

McFadden ruled that Rodean, who suffers from Aspergers, will not have to do years in prison and sentenced him to 240 days of home confinement and 5 years of probation.

Washington Post reporter Tom Jackman detailed what happened in the court: “Just watched an amazing sentencing of Jan. 6 defendant Nicholas Rodean, who is on the autism spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome.

“He smashed two windows at the Capitol and was convicted in a one-day bench trial.

“The government sought 57 months in prison.

“I did not watch his trial, but he was photographed alongside Jacob Chansley, the QAnon shaman.

“His lawyer and family said he is a ‘maniacal rule follower’ who truly did just follow the crowd from the Capitol, and whose support systems collapsed in the pandemic.

“Then it came time for him to speak,” Jackman recalled.

“He rambled about Antifa and BLM and what he did and that he was very sorry for his crimes.

“It was heartbreakingly obvious that he had Asperger’s.

“He covered his ears when his lawyer tried to help.

“Then Judge Trevor McFadden asked one question.

“In the tone you would use with a 9-year-old, the judge asked: ‘Mr. Rodean, are you ever going to do this again?’

“Rodean said ‘no.’

“I thought I was going to cry,” Jackman revealed.

“His lawyer had pointed out that prison for him would be horrendous. McFadden agreed.

“McFadden had earlier reduced the sentencing range to 21-27 months, which the prosecutor said was fine.

“McFadden then went below that, and gave Rodean eight months of home detention, with 30 minutes of Internet per day, and five years of probation.

“I’m doing this primarily because of the impact Asperger’s had on your actions,” McFadden said.

“Rodean was allowed to keep his job as a dog walker, his family promised to be hyper-vigilant.

“It seemed exactly the right outcome, from a judge often criticized as a ‘Trump appointee.’”

According to Politico:

Rodean’s parents sat in the courtroom during the sentencing proceedings, and his sister Kimberly addressed McFadden, during which she expressed worry that prison would devastate her brother’s mental health and sideline his newly successful dog-walking business.

“Autistic people do not fare well in prison,” she said.

But it was Rodean’s own statement to the judge that appeared to be most affecting. For nearly 15 minutes, Rodean struggled to articulate his conduct on Jan. 6, describing how he consumed an intense amount of media about the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests that, at times, led to rioting.

On Jan. 6, he took an Uber to the Stop the Steal rally at which Trump appeared, and then marched along with the crowd.

Someone then handed him an object that he used to smash the two windows that had already been struck by other rioters.

“I am really sorry about breaking the window,” he said.

“I am really sorry about other crimes that I did.”

“Are you ever going to do anything like this again?” McFadden asked him.

“No,” Rodean replied.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: trevormcfadden; trumpjudge
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1 posted on 10/27/2022 8:48:17 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Great story but you should not have to be handicapped to not have your rights violated.


2 posted on 10/27/2022 8:51:11 AM PDT by frogjerk (More people have died trusting the government than not trusting the government.)
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To: Red Badger

ANTIFA


3 posted on 10/27/2022 8:51:57 AM PDT by Revolutionary ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!")
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To: Red Badger

That is compassion.


4 posted on 10/27/2022 8:54:27 AM PDT by Tench_Coxe
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To: Red Badger

A federal judge has overruled prosecutors Democrat Party Legal operatives and sided with a Jan. 6 defendant by refusing to hand down a prison sentence during sentencing.

fixed it.
5 posted on 10/27/2022 8:55:05 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: Revolutionary

He looks far more antifa than he does a Trump supporter.


6 posted on 10/27/2022 8:56:30 AM PDT by boycott
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To: Red Badger

It’s something that we now think it’s great when ONE person is given a break, while dozens of others are still in solitary confinement or have been sentenced to years in prison for a mostly peaceful protest. Using the Antifa/BLM model NONE of these guys would have even been charged or if charged, would have had their cases dismissed.


7 posted on 10/27/2022 8:57:39 AM PDT by euram
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To: Red Badger

“He smashed two windows at the Capitol and was convicted in a one-day bench trial.”

That tells us that he is ANTIFA.

And because of that, not because of Asperger’s, they cut him a break.


8 posted on 10/27/2022 8:58:15 AM PDT by Round Earther
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To: Round Earther

Antifa. He broke windows and got home confinement. We have people getting two years for parading!


9 posted on 10/27/2022 9:00:08 AM PDT by CFW
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To: Red Badger

I’d say this is inappropriate due to the Riot being handled by operatives of the FBI on Jan 6.

It was entrapment plain and simple.

I can see, maybe, he should have had some charges in damages to pay for the windows, but that is it imo.


10 posted on 10/27/2022 9:03:59 AM PDT by Bayard
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To: Round Earther

Have to wonder why Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointed judge, would give such a light sentence to an ANTIFA.


11 posted on 10/27/2022 9:04:55 AM PDT by Izzatso
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To: Red Badger

Someone handed him something....


12 posted on 10/27/2022 9:09:52 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: Red Badger

Justice can be tempered with mercy. Sometimes.


13 posted on 10/27/2022 9:14:10 AM PDT by Lower Deck
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To: Mr. K

14 posted on 10/27/2022 9:14:56 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Bayard

“It was entrapment plain and simple.”

He is ANTIFA, and one cannot be entrapped to break windows.


15 posted on 10/27/2022 9:20:15 AM PDT by Round Earther
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To: CFW

And yet Hunter Biden and Hillary Xlinton are still free.


16 posted on 10/27/2022 9:33:57 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: Red Badger

5 YEARS for questionable trespass.


17 posted on 10/27/2022 9:45:54 AM PDT by taxcontrol (The choice is clear - either live as a slave on your knees or die as a free citizen on your feet.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...
Too little, too late. The judge is unfit for the bench for not throwing out all the cases as violations of civil rights. And Asperger's was removed from the most recent DSM.

18 posted on 10/27/2022 9:58:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger

There will be pardons and a class action lawsuit over this totalitarian fiasco.


19 posted on 10/27/2022 10:17:29 AM PDT by WMarshal (Neocons and leftards are the same species of vicious rat.c)
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To: Red Badger

Now find the FBI CI who gave him the object used to smash the windows.


20 posted on 10/27/2022 10:40:59 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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