The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit has just issued a big ruling that could possibly affect over 100 cases.
The appeals ruled that defendant Larry Brock must be resentenced after being sentenced to two years in federal prison for protesting on January 6th.
Brock along with several other defendants had received enhancements with there charges which gave them longer sentences. The three judge panel ruled those enhancements were improper and will need to be removed.
From ABC News:
The three-judge panel ruled that defendants convicted of obstructing the congressional certification had received improper enhancements of their sentences from district court judges who determined their actions amounted to “substantial interference with the ‘administration of justice.'”
…
In their ruling, the panel of judges upheld Brock’s conviction but ordered the district judge overseeing his case to resentence him and remove the enhancement he had previously included — which in many instances has paved the way for judges to increase the lengths of prison terms for rioters by more than a year.
The court had issues with charges related to “interference with the administration of justice.”
“Brock challenges both the district court’s interpretation of Section 1512(c)(2)’s elements and the sufficiency of the evidence to support that conviction. He also challenges the district court’s application of the three-level sentencing enhancement for interfering with the ‘administration of justice,’” the court opinion read.
“As for Brock’s sentence, we hold that the ‘administration of justice’ enhancement does not apply to interference with the legislative process of certifying electoral votes,” the decision said.
If it wasn’t for the enhancement, Brock would have been charged with misdemeanors. some say the decision could impact at least a hundred defendants sentenced under the same guidelines as Brock.
Back to DC appellate decision in Brock, which concluded DOJ and DC judges misapplied administration of justice sentencing enhancement for J6ers
3 Dem judges called out DC US Attorney Matt Graves for “selectively truncat[ing]” definition of 2 terms.
Nice way to say “you lied.” pic.twitter.com/dxG93Ie51M
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 3, 2024
