Found guilty, pleaded so or charged, 1,600 individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 are free, or will be within hours or days.
For most, there was no doubt as to the extent of their involvement: attacks were widespread, amateur and professional video recordings, sometimes with audio, showed distinctive garb, faces, and makeshift and real weapons identifications and charges followed.
The legal processes for each were thorough; there were no shortcuts.
Some of these individuals beat police and security officers with bars, sticks and poles to the point that more than 150 were injured; mental impacts came next for many and suicide took the lives of four. Among the charges were assault, resisting or impeding officers.
Included in the extraordinary slate-cleaning were leaders of the Oath Keepers and several members of the leadership of the Proud Boys. These were leaders and influencers prior to and during the hours of targeted violence, and some were guilty of “seditious conspiracy,” when two or more conspired to overthrow the government. Their prison sentences, ranging from 15-18 years, were dispensed with.
Fourteen of the attackers received a commutation, a lesser erasure than a pardon, their sentences or legal processes ended. While free from prison, they still may not be able to own a gun or vote.
“Hostages,” is what the county’s new president described them as, as over the months he turned the afternoon’s attack on democracy while he did nothing into an attack on his followers and himself.
Can the president’s supporters defend these pardons and commutations? We hope not.
Their votes must have been for an individual who pledged to control the border, better their individual income and lessen America’s involvement overseas. Surely they don’t believe in having the events of Jan. 6 erased, for the perpetrators to go free? Think of the 150 police officers harmed risking their lives in the line of duty, in defense of our democracy.
These pardons and commutations made a mockery of our legal system and what took place, what was clearly visible. They are, however, consistent with the behavior of an individual who does not believe in the law and continues to rewrite history.
