Jan 6 Prosecutors admit to possession of “images of officers hugging or fist-bumping rioters, posing for photos with rioters, and moving bike racks”
Such brazenness is stunning. In clear violation of the Bail Reform Act and a host of constitutional provisions – as well as the Supreme Court’s holding in Wisconsin v. Mitchell – the government openly admitted that it wanted to indefinitely deprive an American citizen of his liberty simply because it disagreed with his abstract beliefs about the government.
In reading the transcript, you can feel Chief Judge Howell’s eyes rolling.
Griffin, who never even entered the Capitol building, was released on February 5, 2021 after having served nearly three weeks in a federal lockup – for nothing more than a simple trespass.
Recent Revelations By The Government
But Griffin’s case was far from over. In fact, his prosecution has dragged on for nearly seven months, and just this week, in a court filing seeking permission to extend it even longer, federal prosecutors made a breathtaking admission.
After explaining that the government possesses “[t]housands of hours” of video footage from a variety of sources, they conceded these materials include recordings of Capitol Police Officers allowing protesters to enter the so-called “restricted” area into which Griffin is alleged to have trespassed. The prosecutors stated:
“[W]e are not in a position to turn over the universe of information we possess for Defendant to review. Although we are aware that we possess some information that the defense may view as supportive of arguments that law enforcement authorized defendants (including Defendant) to enter the restricted grounds, e.g., images of officers hugging or fist-bumping rioters, posing for photos with rioters, and moving bike racks, we are not in a position to state whether we have identified all such information” (emphasis is mine).
Let’s underline that point: federal prosecutors have evidence – which so far they refuse to provide to any of the Jan. 6 criminal defendants – that Capitol Police Department officers moved obstructions to allow protesters to enter locations that prosecutors are now calling “restricted areas.” And more than that, the government possesses evidence that the officers were taking photos with, hugging and fist-bumping many of those who they allowed to enter those areas.
Add to this the fact that of the course of an hour and a half, Griffin was never asked to leave the area by the police – an assertion by Griffin that the prosecutors do not challenge – and it becomes clear that the government is going to have a serious problem meeting its burden of proof.
Indeed, 18 USC § 1752(a) prohibits individuals from” knowingly enter[ing] or remain[ing] in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so.” The Supreme Court held in Bryan v. United States that for a defendant to have acted willfully, he must have “acted with knowledge that his conduct was unlawful.”
But if the Capitol Police were allowing the protesters to access certain areas that the feds now claim were “restricted,” or were acting in a way that communicated their acquiescence or approval of the protesters’ physical presence in those locations, there is simply no way that the government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that those protesters-cum-criminal defendants broke the law.
At the bail hearing, Chief Judge Howell presaged this issue, stating:
“The charge under 18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(1) with which Mr. Griffin is charged, you know, does require more than simply having – simply presenting proof of the fact that Mr. Griffin jumped over some fences or barriers, you know, to get onto the Capitol grounds …. that fact alone doesn’t constitute a crime under Section 1752(a)(1) …. In addition to breaching barriers of a restricted space, the Government also has to prove that the defendant knowingly entered this restricted building without lawful authority” (emphasis is mine).
This week’s revelation by federal prosecutors that Capitol Police Officers either explicitly or implicitly authorized protesters to enter the very portions of the Capitol grounds that those protesters are now being charged with trespassing onto guts the government’s case.
It was hardly surprising news then that federal prosecutors offered Griffin a confidential plea deal this week. In all likelihood, the prosecutors know that they can’t prevail at trial and so are doing whatever they can to scotch the matter as quickly and quietly as possible before they have to disclose the exculpatory evidence in their possession.
Once that material is provided to the defense, Griffin and others may well choose to take their cases to the mat. And an acquittal at trial for a Jan. 6 defendant – let alone several of them – would be an enormous humiliation for the Department of Justice.
The DOJ is undoubtedly aware of this, and I suspect it is trying desperately to avoid such a black eye at all costs – even if that means offering favorable plea dispositions to people like Cuoy Griffin for charges that it knows should never have been brought in the first place.
Oh how I want these unlawful prosecutions of Patriots to backfire BIGLY on the corrupt Biden DOJ.
I want these people to get their day in court, get acquitted and sue the bejesus out of the DOJ for big bucks.
I want the DOJ, Nasty and Biden to be totally humiliated!!!
Finally, some hopeful news.
I’m surprised prosecutors admitted that about the officers.