Originally published at: Jan 6 rioter who bear-sprayed cops gets 6-year sentence | Boing Boing
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For those keeping track, McHugh was a courtroom groveler: he “made a heartfelt statement expressing his remorse.”
For now. The moment he gets out, he’ll be yelling about how his grifter idol really won like the other grovellers did.
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“His actions were not planned,” said attorney Joseph Allen, of a client to traveled to a political rally with a 16oz can of bear spray, used it on police officers, then took to Facebook to brag about his acts of violence.
Yeah, because he was just wandering around carrying his can of bear spray, as one does in Washington DC, saw this giant group of people, and spontaneously decided to join the party. /s
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Yeah that was ridiculous. I suppose the attorney was trying to argue that his client lacked intent, but intent doesn’t require that you decided a day ahead of time that you’re going to bear spray a cop. Intent, from a legal standpoint, can literally be formed in seconds. He probably tried to argue that he brought the bear spray for self defense, but since he didn’t use it that way, that argument doesn’t work. If he purposefully pointed the bear spray at a cop and then intentionally sprayed it, that’s sufficient intent.
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One satisfying bit of schadenfreude about all these recent January 6 insurrectionist sentences (especially the Proud Boys) is that almost all of them turned down plea deals that would have let them serve about half the time they ended up getting. They thought the judges and juries would be sympathetic to their cause and miscalculated badly.
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“For those keeping track, McHugh was a courtroom groveler: he “made a heartfelt statement expressing his remorse.”“
Your honor, my client is deeply sorry that he was caught. He will work diligently to not be caught in the future.
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Lawyers will say absolutely anything, it’s hilarious.
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Will it take that long? Weren’t some right after sentencing?
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Yeah, I mean I’m not a judge, but can’t he be sentenced to say 25 years 19 suspended and admonished not recant on his “heartfelt statement of remorse”?
If I were a judge I would hate to give a soft sentence to some one that turns around and says “suckers!”…I would want a hook sunk in that I could drank if that happens
(then again I’m not a judge probably in part because I really doubt I would accept a heartfelt grovel about someone not intending to use bear spray at a riot and bash people with metal signs…)
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That’s the fun bit with the whole “courtroom groveler” tracking thing
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I’m interested in the relative lightness of the sentence compared with some of those handed down to others, and I don’t know if it’s simply because he went for a bench rather than jury trial, or if something else is involved.
This is a guy who equipped himself with a weapon, traveled to another city, joined a riot, and used his weapon to attack police. ‘Bear spray’ is not an itty-bitty can of mace he just happened to have in his pocket, something that you could conceivably argue was reasonable to take to a major city; it’s a weapon designed to disable 600lb carnivores. This is violent assault on LEOs with extensive premeditation, something of which the establishment takes a dim view.
And he got six-and-a-half, of which he might serve, say, three. Whereas Proud Boy top honcho Enrique Tarrio, who wasn’t even there, got twenty-and-change.
I haven’t looked closely at the Tarrio sentencing (and I’m not about to cry “Unfair! Unfair!” because as far as I’m concerned Tarrio is a piece of shit, and the less we see of him the better). But the disparity between this guy’s sentence and some of the others suggests that they’re coming down harder on the planners than the thugs, and I find that interesting.
And by “interesting”, I mean that if Donald’s Jan 6 trial yields any straight-line connections between him and the rent-a-mob he unleashed on the Capitol, then Enrique’s going to have some new cellmates.
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“His actions were not planned,” said the lawyer, whose client traveled to a political rally with a 16oz can of bear spray.
Because we ALL KNOW that bear attacks are a common hazard on the National Mall.
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As well they should. Take away any given thug and the insurrection would have unfolded more or less the same way. Take away the organizers and the peaceful transfer of power likely would have proceeded as scheduled.
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too bad he can’t receive a daily shot of bear spray to the face each morning while he is in the joint.
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his actions weren’t planned…but after he reveled in them… yeah, sure buddy. have fun in jail.
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