Federal judge dismisses comparisons between Capitol uprising and racial justice unrest

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“Comparing the actions of people across the country protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights, to a violent mob seeking to overthrow the legally elected government is a false equivalence and downplays the very real danger that the Jan. 6 mob faces. posed to our democracy, ”DC District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan said.

Chutkan added that the rioters “have defiled and disfigured the halls of the Capitol and showed their contempt for the rule of law.” She said: “The country is looking to see what the consequences are of something that has never happened in the country before.”

His comments came during a sentencing hearing for Matthew Mazzocco of Texas, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of illegally demonstrating in the Capitol building – a typical plea deal that the Department of Justice proposed to nonviolent rioters accused of a number of lower level people. offenses.
Judge Trevor McFadden, also of the DC District Court, on Friday said during the conviction of another Capitol Hill rioter that he believes the Justice Department should have been more “fair” in its prosecution of the rioters in the Capitol, suggesting they were treated harsher than rioters during last year’s racial unrest.

The Justice Department argued that the violent breach of the Capitol – in which members of Congress and the vice president had to be evacuated for their safety, stopping the vote confirming the presidential election – was far worse than the other riots , both in the scale of the attack on the federal building and its disruption of the session of Congress.

Some riot defendants argued in court that they should not face felony charges of obstructing congressional process, but judges have yet to rule on those arguments.

Chutkan, without commenting directly on the case handled by McFadden, said the riot was “not a mere protest” and that the defendants, including Mazzocco, were being treated leniently “despite his deliberate decision and premeditated to come to the district and try to disrupt the handover peace. “

“Mr. Mazzocco did not go to the United States Capitol out of love for our country,” said Chutkan. “He went for a man.”

So far, more than 90 defendants of the Capitol riots have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Twelve were sentenced. Mazzocco is the sixth riot defendant on Capitol Hill to be sentenced to jail.

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