For many insurrectionists, self-incriminating postings, photographs, and videos they published on social media before, during, and after the attack are influencing their criminal sentences.
Before she sentenced Pennsylvania man Russell Peterson to 30 days in prison this month, US district judge Amy Jackson read aloud several of his postings.
“Overall, I had a blast!” Peterson wrote on Facebook, using the social media acronym for “laugh out loud.”
The judge declared that Peterson’s messages made it “exceedingly difficult” for her to show him clemency.
“The ‘lol’ in particular kept me awake because, as I hope you’ve come to understand, nothing about January 6th was amusing,” he continued.
One of the most significant lessons from the Department of Justice’s criminal case against the insurrection is how important social media has played, with much of the most damaging evidence coming from rioters’ own words and films, as well as indications that they had entered the Capitol, damaged property, or injured people.
Following days of fanfare from the rightwing and a demonstration in Washington, DC, where the then president urged the crowd to try to prevent official election certification by Congress of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election, far-right extremists stormed the Capitol.
Agents have identified numerous rioters from public postings and records obtained via subpoenas to social media sites. Posts were used to build cases, and judges are now considering them in favor of stiffer penalties.
More than 50 people have been sentenced for federal crimes connected to the upheaval, according to a Friday statement from the US Department of Justice. In at least 28 cases, prosecutors have included a defendant’s social media posts into their sentencing requests, according to an AP review of court documents.
Some insurrectionists celebrated the bloodshed or spewed hateful language on social media. Others used it to spread misinformation, promote wild conspiracy theories, or downplay their involvement. Some defendants have been accused of attempting to erase postings in an attempt to conceal evidence.
Approximately 700 people have been indicted on federal charges as a result of the riot. About 150 of them have accepted responsibility. Over a dozen individuals have already been sentenced to time in jail or prison, while more than 20 offenders have received jail or prison sentences. Home confinement was handed down to over a dozen others.
A criminal complaint revealed that Indiana hair salon owner Dona Sue Bissey and her employees were involved in the riot, but the judge in the case, Tanya Chutkan, sentenced her to two weeks in jail for her role.
The court noted that Bissey had tweeted a screenshot of a Twitter post that read, “This is the first time the US Capitol has been breached since it was assaulted by the British in 1814.”
“Ms. Bissey did not experience guilt or regret upon returning home,” Chutkan added. “She’s delighted and bragging about her role in what essentially amounted to an attempted takeover of the government.”
Congressional investigations have provided considerable detail, which has astonished even experienced election-watchers in terms of the scale and intricacy of Trump’s attempted coup. After receiving a tip that Andrew Ryan Bennett live-streamed video from within the Capitol, FBI agents secured a search warrant for his Facebook page.
“You better be ready for chaos is coming and I will be in DC on January 6, 2021 fighting for my freedom!” exclaimed Bennett on Facebook a week before the riot.
The judge noted that argument as a “aggravating” factor in favor of house arrest rather than a completely probationary sentence.
“The foundation of our democratic republic is the peaceful transfer of power after elections,” the judge told Bennett. “What you and others did on January 6th was nothing less than an attempt to undermine that system of government.”
Meanwhile, a video of New Jersey gym owner Scott Fairlamb hitting a police officer outside the Capitol has gone viral. His Facebook and Instagram posts revealed that he was prepared to act violently there and had no sense of responsibility for his decisions, according to prosecutors.
Other rioters like Fairlamb, remarked the Senior Judge Royce Lamberth, would be “well advised” to strike a plea bargain. “You couldn’t have beaten this if you went to trial based on the evidence I saw,” Lamberth said before sentencing Fairlamb to 41 months in jail.
The use of social media has drawn fire from critics of the tech firms that provide the platforms. Facebook was found to have failed to detect red flags in the run-up to the assault.
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