Reader alert: this is one of those stories I occasionally post that I really don’t understand the repercussions of.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, The Epoch Times<\/a> posted an article about the repercussions of the Supreme Court’s ruling involving obstruction charges against the January 6th defendants.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n U.S. prosecutors have started dropping obstruction charges against defendants alleged to have been involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, in the wake of a crucial Supreme Court decision.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis decision was made in order to avoid disruption to the trial schedule for a five-defendant case, and the dismissal eliminates the need for additional litigation as to the sufficiency of the Section 1512 charge as applied to these defendants,\u201d the prosecutors told the judge.<\/strong><\/p>\n Defendants in other cases, and multiple people who have been convicted and are awaiting sentencing, have asked judges to consider the effect of the ruling. Some of the judges have ordered prosecutors to file briefs presenting their positions on what impact the ruling has on charges against the defendants.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article notes:<\/p>\n Supreme Court justices said in the ruling, released June 28, that federal prosecutors went overboard in their application of Section 1512, which was approved by Congress in the aftermath of the Enron scandal and bars altering, destroying, mutilating, or concealing records.<\/strong><\/p>\n The law also says that a person who \u201cotherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Prosecutors said that the latter part of the law cover various crimes carried out by Jan. 6 defendants, a view rejected by the court\u2019s majority.<\/strong><\/p>\n It’s interesting that some of these charges are being dropped in view of a possible election victory by President Trump in November. Will the people who actually riot on President Trump’s inauguration day (as they did in January 2017) actually be put in jail?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reader alert: this is one of those stories I occasionally post that I really don’t understand the repercussions of. On Wednesday, The Epoch Times posted an article about the repercussions of the Supreme Court’s ruling involving obstruction charges against the … Continue reading