Trump-appointed judge gives a 'break' to Jan. 6 rioter who wants to be a police officer

gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 442 points –
web.archive.org

archive.is is having stability issues at the moment so I updated the link

archive.is link - https://archive.is/gHCl7

Original source link - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-appointed-judge-gives-break-jan-6-rioter-sentencing-rcna93170

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“You don’t have anything to fear from the police if you’re not doing anything wrong” Really? REALLY? They are literal terrorists. I give you, exhibit….what do we do when we run out of letters anyway?

Also: deputy gangs are a thing. Literal gangs within the police force.

Yep, great example of a department with an extensive history of this is the LAPD Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which was the subject of this fifteen part long form investigation that was also made into a podcast

And that's just one example and one we know about

e; updated podcast link to a source the author provided

e2; County Sheriff's Department, not city police like I'd initially misremembered

Not that there aren't gangs in the LAPD this investigation is specifically about the Los Angeles sheriff's department.

Ah right, I always want to forget that detail for some reason, thank you for catching that

There is an in-group that the law protects, but does not bind. There is an out-group that the law binds, but does not protect.

He was convinced and his leniency is due to lack of direct involvement and being young. His sentence is house arrest.

All of this is in the article.

Lack of direct involvement? He showed up! He stole a riot shield! He maced people! He pushed towards breaking into the capitol!

What more do you need???

Well if he had tweeted about arming yourself to defend our nation from an insurrection he'd get years, like another Floridian: Daniel Baker.

I am telling you what the judge considered in his judgment, not what I think about this person.

Yes, we can read. We don't need you to repeat it. Don't espouse views you don't hold. It makes you look like an idiot

"What's an explanation" the confused person thought. "Explanations make me angry!"

a "lack of direct involvement" would be something like showing up to the Capitol to protest, happening to be right in the gray area between the peaceful protestors and the violent ones, and getting rounded up by the capitol police who mistook you for one of the violent ones.

Stealing a riot shield and macing people is the textbook definition of direct involvement.

He maced his own people, so as far as I'm concerned he's incompetent enough to be halfway to an ally.

Kids will be kids! They do dumb stuff all the time like busting mailboxes, tagging grafitti, stealing road signs, and stealing a riot shield during an insurrection.

Lmao I can't wait til my kids come home and announce they MAY have committed some light treason

Why are you raising terrorists?

It was a reference to Arrested Development, which you should definitely watch

I already know the answer, but how does this not completely disqualify him from being a cop?

And why would other cops want to work with a guy who was part of a group that attacked cops?

Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses.

WHEN (not if) these right wing fucks try to over throw the government again, we will only have ourselves to blame for it.

These traitors should have been given the harshest penalties possible - put them up as an example to deter others. Instead, example after example, these POS are given slaps on the wrist. We are essentially encouraging others to try again because the general public has forgotten about this event, the media never took this as seriously as they should have, and various government agencies not escalating the punishments being levied.

They'll all wear their prison sentences as badges in 5 years. You're looking at future senate candidates.

It would have been a massive difference if those fucks were getting 10 or 20 or more sentences.

we will only have ourselves to blame

"We" who? I didn't vote for any of these dicks.

Some of those who work forces are the same that burn crosses.

That should be updated to "Those who work forces burn crosses".

It's a line from the Rage Against The Machine song Killing In The Name, inspired by the 1992 Rodney King killing and subsequent riots

It also contains the powerful line "those who die are justified, remember your badge and your chosen whites"

Cooper went on to say that Bensch hopes to start a career in law enforcement, adding that it's "not beyond the realm of possibility" that he could do so even with his misdemeanors. Bensch is currently working for a pool cleaning company, and the conditions of his sentence will allow him to leave his home for employment during his 60 days of home detention.

So he's not even actually being detained at home for any length of time. He just has to stay at home after work and on weekends for a few weeks. The horror.

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Hobbies include: burning crosses, books, and capitols /s

Huh. A MAGAt rioter that wanted to undermine due process and civil rights also wants to be a cop.

Whoda thunk?

Seriously, fuck this. Maybe we all need to become cops.

This is the chicken and egg problem. Too many of the people who would make very good cops do not wish to become cops because of the racist and abusive people on the force. I wouldn't be at all shocked if there's also a factor of the job itself grinding down it's workers and leading some to become racist and abusive as well

From what I understand, when people that are good become cops and try to hold fellow cops to the same standards, they end up getting hung out to dry and forced out.

Check this case out: https://archive.is/2jzIx, and then consider that this kind of thing is only slightly extreme.

Cops that stay in enable the shitty cops or become shitty themselves, good cops get forced out. The entire system is rotten, and needs to be entirely reformed. I think that it probably needs to be handled in a way similar to the way that Reagan handled striking air traffic controllers: fire every single cop, use National Guard MPs on a temporary basis while entirely new cops are recruited and trained, and have iron-clad oversight and standards established before the new cops take their positions.

You make a great point. My cousin was a good cop. That's why he quit after a few years and became an insurance salesman.

Looking at the actual article, it was more that the judge saw he was a dumb kid who wasn't old enough to go to college yet. We should be encouraging judges not setentising people under 21 to adult sentences, since the Republicans have been pushing 16 year old life sentences since "they look old".

I'm definitely biased and I can't read the article (SSL issue on archive.is?) but I think that attending a deadly political coup should probably exempt you from being in law enforcement, no matter how old you were.

We already do give kids reduced sentences, at least white kids like that rapist Brock Turner.

Maybe we could advocate for reduced sentences for minorities convicted of petty crimes instead of people who actively tried to overthrow the government.

Unfortunately, Brock Turner's judge was lenient to everyone -- and civil rights groups actually liked and approved of him for his lenient sentences across the board, even to minorities. Hence firing him ultimately did more harm than good.

He knew exactly what he was doing. There should be no leniency for people who commit crimes knowing full well what they're doing.

That's how you end up in a society where kids are cool with killing teachers over bad grades.

Protester. FTFY you fucking commie.

See this is the type of crap we don’t need here. Grow up and be civil instead of trying to start things with others.

You’re allowed your opinion and everyone else theirs. There is 0 need to the name calling though.

Legally that kid was an adult at the time he went to the capital. Also in that article he admits that his group went through firearms and hand to hand training before going to the capital.

I would likely agree with you if not for that fact that he admitted to, along with engaging in the rioting and stealing government property.

Once he actively engaged in the disruption, he stopped just being a protestor and became a rioter and thief/looter.

I wish they would've given harsher sentences to all the people that burned Chicago during the protests

i don’t know if you know this, but chicago is still standing today. nobody burned it down.

I don't understand why some approve of the beer-gut-putsch, but that's all white.