Tomorrow, August 1, 2022, is Guy Wesley Reffitt's sentencing day.
On March 7, 2022, Reffitt, 49, the first of the J6 political prisoners to stand trial, was convicted of five charges, grossly inflated and inadequately proven.
I say this having read the court-appointed defense attorney's post-trial filing here, wondering whether these salient points were raised in court, and, if not, why not? One account of the defense mounted by public defender William A. Welch called it "unusually minimalist." What does that mean? Welch called zero witnesses for the defense; Reffitt himself did not testify. In other words, "unusually minimalist" was practically non-existent. The prosecution, on the other hand, called a lot of witnesses and made a lot of noise, literally, with prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler described as "thundering" and "shouting" in his summation to the jury. Hard to believe this fancy pants on his wedding day could belllow, but I guess he needed something, even noise, to boost such a weak case of insurrection. After all, the J6ers were there to demonstrate against an insurrection, an electoral coup, which, tragically, turned out to be completely successful.
Not that legal tactics or evidence or reality matter so long as the J6 political prisoners are tried in a jurisdiction known as The Swamp, where the jury pool is 93 percent wild-eyed Democrat. If ever defendants required an new and untainted venue, it is these J6 political cases -- and, of course, Julian Assange.
But no. Hyper-partisan it is, and will always be; thus, thundering prosecutors score their political convictions on all counts. But even this is no longer enough. Now, Nestler and his fellow-cutthroats want blood. They want destruction. The DOJ is actually pressing Judge Dabney Friedrich to enforce something called an "upward departure for terrorism" in her sentencing decision tomorrow. They are asking a federal judge to punish a J6 protestor on a terrorism charge that prosecutors neither argued in court nor convinced a jury to convict him of.
One more time: Reffitt wasn't tried for terrorism. But the DOJ wants to punish him as a terrorist with a 15-year-sentence.
This is an unprecedented (il)legal turn of events, more gross evidence of the DOJ's lawlessness and vindictiveness.
Reffitt should get off with time served, because, like so many of the J6ers, has he ever already served time. This husband and father of three has already endured 19 months inside the DC Gulag, including 222 days in solitary confinement.
Welch's filing states the record:
According to Capitol Hill police, Guy Reffitt never put his hand on anyone...Guy Reffitt never threw anything at anyone...He never hit anyone with anything...He never assaulted anyone. The Capitol Hill video corroborated this.
Officer Kerkhoff, Sergeant DesCamp, and Sergeant Flood each testified that Guy Reffitt was told to get back. ... They each testified Mr. Reffitt was hit was pepper balls, weighted plastic impact projectiles, and he was pepper sprayed. ... Guy Reffitt never tried to assault anyone; nor did he help anyone else assault anyone. He did not threaten harm and he was not aggressive.
As soon as Mr. Reffitt was pepper sprayed, that was the end of it, and he sat down on the bannister railing.
But that was "not the end of it." Sitting there on the bannister railing, Guy Reffitt, incapacitated, overcome, became another victim of the United States government as usurped in the electoral coup of November 3 to January 6, another American patriot, husband and father to torment, to tear apart, to destroy.
It could happen to any of us.
Free Guy Reffitt.