Those unfamiliar with the travesty called the "plea deal", could look for example into the case of Aaron Swartz. Aaron was a genius programmer (co-authored RSS at age 14, and also key developer of Reddit) who was driven to suicide in 2013 by federal prosecutor Ortiz. Plea deals are based on prosecutors racking up an absolutely outlandish…
Those unfamiliar with the travesty called the "plea deal", could look for example into the case of Aaron Swartz. Aaron was a genius programmer (co-authored RSS at age 14, and also key developer of Reddit) who was driven to suicide in 2013 by federal prosecutor Ortiz.
Plea deals are based on prosecutors racking up an absolutely outlandishly insane accusation and punishment, in which only the sky is the limit. In Aaron's case, 35 years in jail and $1 million fine. All that for unlawfully downloading scientific papers from MIT. Then offering a "plea deal", a seriously exaggerated punishment - in Aaron's case, 6 months in jail - which is orders of magnitude below that outlandishly insane threat, and tell you that if you don't immediately sign off that plea, you'll be prosecuted for that insane accusation with the full force of a well-funded government agency.
So... do you feel lucky?
A normie might have signed on those 6 months, but Aaron was no normie. In his heart of hearts he knew that he had done no wrong, and refused to sign by his own hand that he did. It was a matter of principle. His remaining options were to go through a 35y/$1M trial against fantastic odds... or suicide.
Here I'm not trying to "blame Chansley" for agreeing to sign that plea deal. I also agree that Chansley had no business being in the Capitol, that he was trespassing, behaving indecently, obstructing regular government proceedings, and that he should be jailed for some time for doing that. I even agree that his prison sentence should be ten times longer than the one that was given to the protesters who trespassed, behaved indecently and obstructed government proceedings during the Kavanaugh confirmation. But (... takes out calculator ...) that is STILL less than 41 months. A lot less, even.
What I don't agree with, is that I should trust some plea-deal toilet paper over trusting video footage.
Those unfamiliar with the travesty called the "plea deal", could look for example into the case of Aaron Swartz. Aaron was a genius programmer (co-authored RSS at age 14, and also key developer of Reddit) who was driven to suicide in 2013 by federal prosecutor Ortiz.
Plea deals are based on prosecutors racking up an absolutely outlandishly insane accusation and punishment, in which only the sky is the limit. In Aaron's case, 35 years in jail and $1 million fine. All that for unlawfully downloading scientific papers from MIT. Then offering a "plea deal", a seriously exaggerated punishment - in Aaron's case, 6 months in jail - which is orders of magnitude below that outlandishly insane threat, and tell you that if you don't immediately sign off that plea, you'll be prosecuted for that insane accusation with the full force of a well-funded government agency.
So... do you feel lucky?
A normie might have signed on those 6 months, but Aaron was no normie. In his heart of hearts he knew that he had done no wrong, and refused to sign by his own hand that he did. It was a matter of principle. His remaining options were to go through a 35y/$1M trial against fantastic odds... or suicide.
Here I'm not trying to "blame Chansley" for agreeing to sign that plea deal. I also agree that Chansley had no business being in the Capitol, that he was trespassing, behaving indecently, obstructing regular government proceedings, and that he should be jailed for some time for doing that. I even agree that his prison sentence should be ten times longer than the one that was given to the protesters who trespassed, behaved indecently and obstructed government proceedings during the Kavanaugh confirmation. But (... takes out calculator ...) that is STILL less than 41 months. A lot less, even.
What I don't agree with, is that I should trust some plea-deal toilet paper over trusting video footage.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-hacker-case-ends-with-suicide/?sh=4feef0a57cd9