Guilty of Smarts and Charisma
In this sentencing phase of January 6 cases, the U.S. DOJ is starting, finally, to admit is that there was no one plan to storm the Capitol or to kill Members of Congress or to take over the government. In fact, the government FBI agents and attorneys finesse into their pre-sentencing memoranda, there are a number of defendants who accepted pleas or were convicted who have no prior criminal record, did or did not even set foot inside the US Capitol building, assaulted or attempted to assault no one, neither broke nor stole anything, and went home with only a selfie and a photo or two in their mobile phones.
What I’ve been reading in these massive sentencing recommendation documents is the admission by the US DOJ that the basic criminal law concept of “proportional justice” is out of whack and off-kilter. And, in this late stage, they’re making a lame effort to put a Band-Aid on it.
Now that the unhandsome man with the eye patch has been convicted of the highest crime of all (“seditious conspiracy”) —Now that this man who once held a microphone standing in public parks is sentenced to the longest term of anyone of the more than 600 sentenced to date (18 years – US DOJ asked for 25 years) — Now, me, the analyst, can start to look at the grid of convictions and sentences and point out that the worst actor of January 6 was not any defendant; it was US DOJ Attorney Michael Sherwin, who took credit on 60 Minutes for having launched the campaign “shock and awe” at US DOJ to arrest and convict as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
Friends, Justice may be blind, but she isn’t stupid. If she would ever rip off that dusty rag, her fiery eyes would shine a light upon injustice and vanquish it like vampires forced into their coffins as Dawn makes her way around the curvature of the Earth.
It strikes me that the Western configuration of “Justice” is not unlike “God.” There. Omnipotent. Benevolent. But leaving man to his own devices to fight for those apex propositions like Due Process, Evidence, Representation by Counsel, Equality.
It’s going to take me a few readings to fully digest the US DOJ memorandum to Judge Mehta in the case of Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers. It’s a 183-page memo, speaking also to co-defendants Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel, Thomas Caldwell, and Edward Vallejo. I’m uploading it to my website so that you can easily see it for yourself. A wild read of largely inadmissible hearsay, irrelevant commentary, and author hyperbole with limited references to the trial transcript.
The theme is that Rhodes is guilty because he is smart and he is charismatic. US DOJ paints a picture that Rhodes was able to convince others of this and of that (details woven in are largely irrelevant to the elements of the conviction). To persuade. To entreat. According to US DOJ, Rhodes’ plan, if any, was to protect then President Trump’s presence inside the White House, if Trump elected to try to stay on; that going to the US Capitol was spontaneous; that Rhodes’ comment upon learning several members of the Oath Keepers had entered the US Capitol building was “stupid.” The US DOJ has finally caught up with what I’ve argued since their original Complaint was filed.
It turns out that what US DOJ argued in the sentencing phase was that even if the Oath Keepers organization had only 30-40,000 members (which they concede to be insignificant to the U.S. population) it’s more about the damage Rhodes is capable of doing to our democracy going forward. The government argument boiled down to Rhodes needs to be thrown away in federal prison for a long time so that we can tell our “children and our grandchildren” that there is a core democracy that is safe. (Not kidding, see p. 75.)
Where does that leave someone like me? Or you? Here’s me, in a photo from 2005, smiling, alongside my Uncle Chris, in front of the US Capitol. Not long thereafter, I filed FEC Form 2 and declared my intention to run for Congress. As an anti-Bush, post-9/11 opposition to the US counterterrorism policies. My analysis and ideas didn’t persuade enough voters to carry me through a primary. And, yet, I have continued, unswervingly, to criticize those policies, including a current book pitch proposal titled “Disproportionate Injustice: How 9/11 Became January 6 and Imperiled All Our Civil Rights in the Process.” What if that title finds a publisher and sells more than 40,000 copies? Would that rank me higher than Rhodes on the metric of opposition to the new democracy, particularly if the price of the hardcover exceeds an Oath Keepers membership dues?
The US DOJ is clear in their writing: the goal was to use Rhodes as a deterrent to others who might behave in like manner in the future.
That’s the bottom of my cup o’ Joe this morning! In the meantime, I’m working on a White Paper due out this July on the war on guns through the 2022-2023 concealed carry restrictions that hit multiple states and is in multiple federal courts, making its way towards SCOTUS. Look for your pre-order in about two weeks. And, you’ll see me at appearances June 15-17 in the Kinston, NY area at Safe Shoot and Zero Tolerance Manufacturing. Swing by and say hello! I’ll have books, White Papers, and answers, along with questions on what any of this means for our future.
I wish I had an uplifting take-away to end with today, but I’m afraid this is a straight and bitter espresso. When it has to be poured straight, I’m your barista. Thanks for sticking with me for the unflinching analysis.
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