“January 6th must not become a precedent for further violence against political opponents and government institutions,” Lamberth wrote. “This is not normal. This cannot be normal. We, as a community, as a society, as a country, cannot tolerate the normalization of the January 6th Capitol riot.”
The judge’s move comes as former President Donald Trump’s escalating rhetoric comes as polls show growing public acceptance of the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. It’s the latest move by a federal judge in Washington to step up widespread public pressure to counter the current situation. He painted the defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages” who had done nothing wrong. President Trump has promised to pardon defendants in the Capitol riot, including those who assaulted police.
Jonatakis did not directly address the judge’s comments, but told Lamberth after the verdict: “I respect what you’ve done for your country and what you’ve done in your career.” In an interview Thursday, Jonatakis’ father, who gave his name as J. Jonatakis, said he did not condone violence and was grateful for the judge’s response to his letter to his son. But he said he believes the government is punishing conservatives at the Capitol on January 6 more harshly than liberals who committed violence during racial justice protests in 2020. Stated.
“I think a lot of it was overstated, especially when compared to others,” he said.
In federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Lamberth said he “takes no great pleasure in locking up a defendant who lived a good life until his actions on January 6, 2021,” but added, “Our justice… In the system, it’s not a crime to punish people.” Not only their overall personality is important, but also their behavior. ”
The judge, a Texas-born son of an Army pool mechanic who served as an Army lawyer in Vietnam and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, said Jonatakis, 40, from Washington state, He said it seems to be showing. No real remorse for what he did. The judge also said he was shocked that “few people among his supporters knew what he actually did.” According to the judge, one wrote that the defendant “would never” do anything violent, while another wrote that he “got caught up” in the crowd.
“In fact, it was Mr. Jonatakis himself who organized and assaulted the protesters that day,” Lamberth said. “Mr. Jonatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day.”
According to trial evidence, the day before the riot, Jonatakis posted on social media: “Burn the city down. What the British did to Washington, D.C. will not amount to any good.”
The next day, as he marched to the Capitol, he posted a video of himself saying, “I’m walking to the Capitol right now, and I don’t know, maybe I’ll break down the door.” Ta.
So he went in front of the mob. Jonatakis organized a complaint to the police, shouting “One, two, three, go!” through a megaphone he had brought with him. The rioters then erected barricades of metal bike racks, forcing police to slam them down. The assault was confirmed by body camera footage and officers said it resulted in serious injuries and life-threatening injuries.
“Mr. Jonatakis and others then raised the fence to the level of the officers’ heads, allowing the mob to scuffle with the officers without the fence getting in the way,” Lamberth wrote in the filing. .
The attack overpowered the last line of police guarding the steps on the southwest side of the Capitol, and the rioters quickly entered the building, forcing the evacuation of the building.
“If I had seen exactly who they were, I probably would have killed some of the ‘deputies’,” Jonatakis boasted in the video as he left.
Jonatakis apologized to the victims of police at trial. But Lamberth said his message changed after he was convicted in November of felony charges of obstruction of justice, rioting and assaulting a police officer, as well as four misdemeanor charges. “We did nothing. We touched the gate. We got pepper sprayed. We came back. That’s it,” the defendant said in a YouTube video, adding, “On January 6th… “Everything about it is exaggerated,” he added.
Mr Jonatakis, a self-employed septic system installer and father of five, was represented at trial with the support of his family in attendance and his lawyer on hand. He brought up the anti-government “sovereign people” argument and asked the court after the verdict: “Does the record reflect that I have repented of my sins?”
Mr. Lamberth’s remarks came as another U.S. public judge in Washington, Reggie B. Walton, condemned Mr. Trump’s social media attacks on the judge presiding over a hush money trial in Manhattan and his daughter, an attack on the rule of law. and violence and oppression. Lamberth previously decried the mainstreaming of “unwarranted justifications of criminal acts” by Republican politicians defending the actions of the January 6th rioters, saying, “Distortions and outright falsehoods have entered the public consciousness. I was shocked to see how widespread it was.”
Five people were killed during or shortly after the Jan. 6 attack, when a pro-Trump mob injured more than 100 police officers, ransacked the Capitol office and forced lawmakers to evacuate. Approximately 486 defendants have been charged with assault or obstruction of an officer or employee, including 127 with use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or inflicting serious bodily injury.
Lamberth’s remarks appeared to be part of the justices’ ongoing civics lesson for a country deeply divided over the meaning and lessons of January 6th. Lamberth said the First Amendment enshrines Americans’ rights to freedom of speech and protest, but it “clearly does not give anyone the right to attack police.”
