DOJ Says ‘Remorseless’ Jan. 6 Defendant Deserves Life for FBI Murder Plot
While Donald Trump’s wave of pardons and commutations continues to free the January 6 defendants, federal prosecutors are making a hard push in at least one unique case. The Department of Justice is asking the court to sentence one rioter to life in prison, arguing that his alleged plot to kill FBI agents makes him dangerous, remorseless, and beyond reform.
The individual in question is Ryan Samsel, who prosecutors identify as a Pennsylvania barber and long-time lawbreaker, who was the driving force behind the Capitol riot. Samsel, court documents say, was the one who first laid hands on the police, shoving them off the barricade and thus starting the aggressive movement which unharmed others to break into the Capitol.
The attorneys, however, do not see it as a one-time event. They even went so far as to assert this as the beginning of his intended crime.
They claim that Samsel, even though in prison, made a plan to have the FBI agents killed. This step, the order of which leads to extremely evil acts, if the case is proven, exceeded everything that was in the other cases. The officer confirmed that in this way, Samsel is not only a single person who made the Capitol an arena of unrest but he is a person who is so deeply plunged in corruption that he can be considered the most dangerous person certainly he deserves to be penalized to the fullest extent of the law.
Money rioter releases and the trials taking place inside court buildings are happening one next to the other in total contrast. Trump’s act of releasing nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants has led to many rioters being set free. Even Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys and Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers who have both been found guilty of seditious conspiracy, have been released. The news of their release has raised reactions that are all over the place, with some people being happy about it, while others are angry, hence the polarization is due to the differences in the political affiliations.
The prosecutors in the case of Samsel have made it perfectly clear that this is nobody they think should be released. To them, he is both violent and unremorseful and is not only deeply involved in the January 6 incident but also is the one who later performed a series of acts that reveal ‘a pattern of escalating criminality.’
The request for the life sentence by the DOJ is not only a very unusual thing but also points out how they consider the matter. It also marks a calculated contrast to the justice crisis in Capitol riot cases characterized by the increasing number of those who have had their charges dropped or sentences commuted.
While the legal and political debate continues about the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants, the attitude of the DOJ to Samsel is seen as that there is a certain line that they will never cross. They are particularly focused on the case where the institutions of law and order are the targets of the culpable acts.
