ROTFLMAO!
I'm in the odd position of thanking you for this link..another cogent NPR report--which, BTW, I imagine you never read..or listened to?
I recommend this article to all~
The partisan cherry-pickers will have a ball..but taken as a whole..a lot of info.
Allow me to quote:
The attack on the Capitol is something most Americans watched on TV or Facebook or Twitter, from the police battered in hand-to-hand combat on the stairs, to the fatal shooting of a woman just outside the House chamber.
In the weeks afterward, there was a general sense that the Jan. 6 cases would be of the slam-dunk variety. After all, the events took place not just before our eyes but also at a time when the endless selfies, livestreamed video and GPS locations were easily vacuumed up for use in court later. But attorneys working for the defense describe prosecutors as overwhelmed by the evidence and struggling to build cases.
"The evidence is significantly more complicated for them than they thought it was going to be, that's clear," Greg Hunter, a defense attorney who is working on a dozen Jan. 6 cases, told NPR. "Every one of those people was carrying a smartphone, every one of them, and they're all taking pictures and videos and all that evidence has actually slowed everything down."
Twenty-five people have pleaded guilty so far, which leaves a good 550 more cases left to resolve.
Three categories of defendants
The Justice Department has created a kind of framework for prosecutions, dividing the Jan. 6 defendants into three categories. The first includes people such as Ianni who went inside the Capitol and allegedly walked around but aren't charged with property damage or assaulting police.The shorthand used to describe these people (both among some Justice Department insiders and defense attorneys) is "the tourist cases" — a nickname derived from the words of Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who rather infamously said, "If you didn't know the TV footage was a video from Jan. 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit."
The second category of defendants includes those who broke into the Capitol, damaged property and attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election. They are facing charges of civil disorder and assault and include people such as Tampa, Fla., crane operator Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38.
Hodgkins pleaded guilty in June to one count of obstructing an official proceeding, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Prosecutors asked for 18 months. This month, U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss sentenced him to somewhat less than that: eight months because, the judge said, he pleaded guilty early and seemed remorseful about what he had done. Some two dozen others have also pleaded guilty in recent weeks.
And finally there is a category that prosecutors have yet to define precisely. These are the people investigators believe are connected to right-wing extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. Officials are investigating whether or not there is hard evidence that shows the assault was planned in advance. Illuminating that would go a long way toward clarifying what actually took place that day.
Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, said the Justice Department has decided to play hardball with Jan. 6 defendants — hoping to prevent future attacks. It has opted for a legal strategy in the mold of shock and awe: Arrest everyone, charge everyone.
"You start with the FBI and the investigations that are going on, and you keep them coming," she said. "And every jurisdiction has these cases, and if I sound harsh, good, because this was an attempt to undermine a valid American election."
The Justice Department announced in early July that the arrests and charges aren't over. It expected to round up hundreds more people in the coming months.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys NPR talked to agreed about one thing: The best way for the nation to understand what took place Jan. 6 is to present evidence in court that shows what happened. Collectively, America has yet to decide whether Jan. 6 was a protest that went off the rails or a calculated plan to launch a coup. A full hearing may help provide a more satisfying answer.
Last edited:
