The 'QAnon Shaman' and other Capitol rioters who regret pleading guilty

YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.worldbanned from sitebanned from site to politics @lemmy.world – 257 points –
The 'QAnon Shaman' and other Capitol rioters who regret pleading guilty
bbc.co.uk
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During their hearing “I am a changed person. I would never do something like this again”

A year later “I don’t regret what I did, I would do it again, we did nothing wrong, Trump 2024”

Sounds like perjury.

Apparently not, since none of them are being charged with it. I don't know how the law is supposed to work, but that doesn't seem right.

Perjury requires that you knowingly lie. And because our justice system demands evidence of guilt and presumes innocence without that evidence, to be convicted of perjury, the prosecution has to prove that the individual knew they were lying, and lied anyway.

That's relatively easy to do when the subject of a lie is some material fact like, say, the defendant says, "I was wearing a blue shirt" and there is photographic evidence of the defendant wearing a green shirt, or something. It's a lot harder with the thing in question is what the defendant was thinking.

Watch this fictional defense:

Prosecution: "You lied when you said you would never do something like that again."

Shaman: "I said that yes."

Prosecution: "Caught you!"

Shaman: "In the year since, I have changed my mind. At the time, I was telling the truth as I saw it."

Judge: "Tap tap tap, case dismissed. I lost my judge hammer."

Who cares if you pleaded guilty? You were filmed, dumbass.

Wachu gonna do, plea the fifth?

The judge apparently cared, hence why he got a light sentence. Now that the sentence is completed he's looking to go back on it.

Frankly he should get his day in court, and he should be sentenced again, based on his apparent lack of remorse.

The judge apparently cared, hence why he got a light sentence. Now that the sentence is completed he’s looking to go back on it.

Wasn't that the same judge that made sure his precious boy got his organic chicken tendies while awaiting his lenient sentence?

Yeah, let's have a judge look into whether he purgered himself on the stand to get a more lenient ruling.

It doesn't work that way. The only way he faces consequences is if he gets in trouble with the law again, in which case both prosecutor and judge will use it against him.

Probably for something stupid like clout. Pleading guilty is an admission of wrong doing, and most of these people think they did nothing wrong and it's all deep state coming for them.

A plea deal gets you a lighter sentence, so coming out against it now is not a good look and will bite him in the ass if he ever has trouble with the law in the future.

Can’t do the time? Don’t do the crime.

IMO it's even worse than that, they got off easy, if the house had been defended as it should have, a lot of them would probably have been shot. If they hadn't had white privilege, hundreds would have been shot, instead of just allowing them in.

But somehow extreme republicans managed to keep security away, because they actually wanted Trump to succeed in turning over the election. The treason goes deep within all US security organisations.

Exactly! If that group had been a majority black/Hispanic/Asian/native American we would be talking about how many were killed/injured not how many were arrested.

Can't handle Democracy? Fuck off to Russia, China, or North Korea.

Loves dictatorships.

Live in democracy instead.

Smiles into the camera

I wish he would have too. The dumbass traitors that are claiming innocence are getting heavy sentences. This jackass would have tacked at least 4 more years on to his 3 year sentence if he had ignored his lawyer.

What human trash, honestly I have a hard time even calling these fuckwits human. Lied in court and did a complete about-face. That should be grounds for more jail time.

It’s a fucking shame the justice system failed so completely on this. Everyone involved should have had the book thrown at them.

If we can lock black people up for decades for a tiny bit of weed I think the least we can do is put these people behind bars for a decade.

I say all of that AND I’m heavily in favor of prison reform. But while we have this terribly shitty system it pisses me off when it’s applied so unevenly and unfairly. Maybe if we held white people (see also CEOs) to the same standard there would be more support for reform.

Is it common for rescind guilty plead? Doesn't that kinda invalidate it?

No it’s very rare. When you plead guilty, a judge asks you if you are truly guilty or is someone pressuring you into pleading that way?

No it’s very rare. When you plead guilty, a judge asks you if you are truly guilty or is someone pressuring you into pleading that way?