Judge withdraws order against J6 defendants, says they can visit our Capitol without permission
A federal judge ruled on Monday that defendants who received access rights from President Donald Trump on January 6 were free to visit the U.S. Capitol without first obtaining permission.
District Judge Amit Mehta issued the order in response to a petition from Trump’s Justice Department. Some of the defendants on Jan. 6 included restrictions on access to parts of the Capitol, and the Justice Department asked that those requirements be removed.
Mehta declined to remove the restrictions from his sentencing documents but acknowledged that Trump’s reversal meant they would not be enforced.
“The DOJ’s motion is granted in part and denied in part,” Mehta wrote. “The court does not ‘dismiss the noncustodial portion of defendant’s sentence, but defendant is no longer subject to judicially imposed conditions of supervised release.”
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Certain J6 defendants who commute to President Trump are now free to visit the U.S. Capitol without permission. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Mehta v. Defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel and Joseph Hacket” those pardoned were not Subject to orders.
“You must knowingly enter the District of Columbia without the permission of the court,” the order said, adding: “You must knowingly enter the United States Capitol building, or enter the surrounding grounds known as Capitol Square.”
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When a pardon removes a defendant’s conviction, transposition puts the conviction in its proper place while reducing the sentence. Mehta argued that Trump’s pardon language for the defendants in question applied only to the terms of their incarceration, not the details of their supervised release.
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks at a Patriots Day free speech rally on April 15, 2017 in Berkeley, California. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)
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Jonathan Turley, a Fox News contributor and Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, called the order “highly unusual” when it landed last week.
Turi told Fox News Digital that the judge relied on the fact that the sentence was commuted, but the defendant did not receive a full pardon. “
President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all J6 defendants last week. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Trump pardoned nearly all of the Jan. 6 defendants after promising to do so during his inaugural parade.
