Courthouse News Service by Emily Zantow April 14, 2022
Judge tells Capitol rioter supervision is necessary to protect democracy from ‘people like you’
U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell said it is "imperative" that an attack on the Capitol never happens again.A federal judge imposed a prison sentence plus house arrest and probation on a Tennessee man who stormed the Capitol, saying the government wants to keep an eye on people like him as the 2024 presidential election approaches.
U.S. District Chief Judge Beryl Howell spoke at the Thursday hearing about the “conundrum” many sentencing judges are facing as they decide how to sentence a nonviolent Capitol riot defendant like Blake Reed, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building.
There’s a trade-off in punishment, she said, with jail time on one hand or longer supervision on the other. At the same time, some sentencing judges at the federal courthouse in Washington believe a period of supervision of at least three years is necessary to help prevent another insurrection. Howell toed that line and sentenced Reed to three years of probation, including 42 days of intermittent confinement and three months of home detention.
“It’s to protect our democracy from other people like you … engaging in the same political violence that shook our country,” she told Reed, adding that it is “imperative” that a siege on the Capitol never happens again.
Reed and four others were indicted together two days after the riot. He took a plea deal in November in exchange for the more serious charges against him to be dropped, including obstruction and disorderly conduct. The government sought a sentence of three months in jail and one year of supervised release, while Reed suggested probation.
More:
https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-tells-capitol-rioter-supervision-is-necessary-to-protect-democracy-from-people-like-you/
