Pleas? No DOJ thank you!
Today, I took my discomfort with the three plea deals of Caleb Berry, Mark Grods, and Graydon Young through a new metric, hoping to find a comfort level with what’s going on. Last week, I railed on the plea deals going down under a DOJ-misrepresented statute + excessive “Statements of Offense.” Today’s metric – comparing their three plea deals to the other plea deals out there? Also, a fail. 18/19 of the other plea deals were for a charge with a maximum sentence of 6-months. Meanwhile, Berry, Grods, and Young pleaded to two statutes carrying upwards of 20-years and fines upwards to $250,000. The added conditions faced by Berry, Grods, and Young are faced by no - none - zero - of the other defendants.
Just in case you wonder whether the other defendants I looked at started with lesser charges, let me tell you that two of the other defendants (Derek Jancart and Erik Rau) were charged with entering the office of the U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Another defendant charged with dangling from the Senate gallery upper level (Josiah Colt), as depicted in one of the iconic photographs of the day.
Berry, Grods, and Young, according to the DOJ’s own paperwork, arrived 90-minutes into the event, walked into the Capitol building on their own two feet, spent between 4-minutes and 14-minutes just inside the doorway of the building, broke nothing, stole nothing, injured no one, and left.
The disparity among the plea deals being offered to defendants is staggering, and it is further evidence that the US DOJ is targeting defendants they brand as “Oath Keepers.”
In light of today’s findings, I’m heading onto Bill Frady’s “Lock ‘N’ Load” radio show this afternoon at 4 pm to discuss - please join us - listen live.
I’ll also be starting a new chart to track the first clump of plea deals. Right now, I have up on the website my case tracker for the 19 defendants tagged by DOJ as being “Oath Keepers.” I update my case tracking sheets regularly. They are .pdf free downloads. They are designed to be shared as attachments to your own e-blasts and printed and passed out at meetings. I had not planned on doing a second case tracker, but January 6 remains a dynamic and unfolding situation, and it makes sense to track the first so many pleas. Most of these pleas are subject to sentencing dates coming up in September and October. I’ll include those dates on the chart, as well.
The wall above my desk in my office looks more and more like a military war room. It’s what I’ve been saying since January 6 began: look through the smoke and mirrors. The truth might take some time and a bit of elbow grease, but it’s generally already standing in the room with you.
