New York Times managed this with eloquence.
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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I'd expect more acquittals tbh. It was, at the outset, a legal and constitutionally protected protest. I'm still not entirely on board with calling it an insurrection, a coup, etc. but it definitely devolved into a non-peaceful event, and I'm pretty ambivalent when it comes to the prosecutions due to that. They fucked around, they should find out. You don't wander off with the speaker of the house's podium and not have the full focus of government come down on your ass.
I would 100% expect acquittals for anyone who stayed outside though, as a hypothetical condition that might warrant acquittal... That for me would be a solid indicator that their intent was limited to peaceful protest. Could very well be that there were only two people who did so.
I'd also like to read an article on the acquittals, but I find their presence to be encouraging, and I'm assuming you don't feel that way.
On the left side of the fence though, the presence of acquittals, even so few, lends a great deal of credibility to the cases... Does it not? Wasn't a kangaroo court if it wasn't 100%, right? I think so anyway :)
This is more likely a case where the people that were only outside were never even convicted of a crime.
The FBI seems to be after the people they have credible evidence of actually engaging in violence or planned violence.
For clarity, I’m assuming you meant “accused” or “tried” rather than “convicted.”
Yes, that is what I meant.
Language is hard sometimes
Yeah, the feds have an astonishingly high conviction rate in general, because they typically only bother prosecuting the cases they know they can win. By the time you’re indicted, their case against you is likely already ironclad. Which brings us to the current post, where the overwhelming majority of people who were prosecuted either took a plea deal or were found guilty.
What were they trying to do, and how were they trying to accomplish it?
There's video of people outside fighting the police. "Just being outside" isn't really a valid defense either.