Judge Argues Claim That Rioters Are Treated Unfairly

A Texas man who joined the mob that stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6 was sentenced Monday to 45 days behind bars even though prosecutors weren't seeking jail time, after the judge blasted comparisons between the riot that day and the Black Lives Matter protests over racial injustice. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, called it a false equivalence "to compare the actions of people protesting, mostly peacefully, for civil rights" to the mob that "was trying to overthrow the government," the AP reports. She said doing so "ignores the very real danger that the Jan. 6 riots pose to the foundation of our democracy."

The judge's remarks in the case against Matthew Mazzocco of San Antonio came days after another judge in Washington's federal court suggested prosecutors were being too hard on the Jan. 6 defendants, compared to treatment of the people arrested during the protests after George Floyd's murder. Judge Trevor McFadden, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, questioned Friday why prosecutors had not brought more cases against those who had taken part in the 2020 summertime protests and said the Justice Department "would have more credibility if it was evenhanded in its concern about riots and mobs in this city." He sentenced Danielle Doyle of Oklahoma to probation, though prosecutors sought two months of home confinement.

Chutkan said she "flatly" disagreed that the Jan. 6 defendants were being treated unfairly. In fact, she said those who joined the pro-Trump mob were being treated more leniently. Chutkan noted that the vast majority of rioters were not arrested on Jan. 6 but were allowed to return home and that many defendants, like Mazzocco, were charged only with misdemeanors despite what she called the "premeditated decision to come to the District to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power." Some Jan. 6 defendants and their GOP allies have claimed that Capitol rioters are being treated more harshly because of their political views. But an AP analysis of court documents in more than 300 federal cases stemming from the racial injustice protests showed that dozens of people have been convicted of serious crimes and sent to prison.

(More Capitol riot stories.)