Assault on the Capitol: US Supreme Court makes it difficult to prosecute defendants for obstruction
The Supreme Court of the States today made it more difficult to charge the defendants in the assault on the Capitol with obstruction, an allegation that was also presented against former US President Donald Trump.
The justices ruled by six votes to three that the charge of obstruction of an official process, enacted in 2002 in response to the financial scandal that brought down Enron Corp., must include evidence that the defendants attempted to tamper with or destroy documents.
Only a few of the people who violently attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021 fall into this category.
The decision could be used as grounds for allegations by Trump and his Republican allies that the Justice Department unfairly treated the Capitol riot defendants.
It is unclear how the court’s decision will affect the case against Trump in Washington, although special counsel Jack Smith said the charges facing the former president would not be met.
The high court has returned the case of former Pennsylvania police officer Joseph Fischer to a lower court to determine whether he can be charged with obstruction.
Fischer was charged for his role in disrupting Congress’ certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election over Trump.
The former agent is among around 350 people charged with obstruction. Some pleaded guilty or were convicted of minor offenses.
A broad reading of the obstruction statute “would also criminalize a wide range of prosaic conduct, exposing activists and lobbyists to decades in prison,” Chief Justice John Roberts Roberts wrote in his seem.
About 170 defendants in the Capitol insurrection were convicted of obstruction or conspiracy to disrupt the January 6th joint session of Congress, including the leaders of two extreme extremist groups. right, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
Some protesters were even granted early release from prison while appeals were pending due to concerns that they could end up serving longer than they should if the Supreme Court ruled against the Department of Justice. .
This list includes Kevin Seefried, a Delaware man who threatened a black police officer with a flagpole attached to a Confederate battle flag while storming the Capitol.
Seefried was sentenced last year to three years in prison, but a judge recently ordered that he be released a year later, pending the Supreme Court’s decision.
More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the riots at the Capitol. Around a thousand of them pleaded guilty or were convicted by a jury or judge after their respective trials.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which handled the prosecution of the Jan. 6 events, said no one who was convicted or charged with obstruction will be completely exonerated because of the ruling.
Each defendant also has other felony or misdemeanor charges, or both, prosecutors said.
For about 50 people convicted, obstruction was the only felony charge, prosecutors said. Of these, around two dozen who are still serving their sentences are those most likely to be affected by the decision.
