Why the Capital Riot prosecution is a reach and why it may eventually backfire...

The main charges you will see if you look through the list of people the Government is charging in relation to the Capital Riot on January 6th.

• "Knowingly enters or remains in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so.” 18 U.S.C. §1752(a)(1).
• "Knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact, impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.” 18 U.S.C. §1752(a)(2).

In some cases, they are simply duplicating the same charges under different statutes.

• Utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; 40 U.S. Code § 5104 (2)(D)
• (parade, demonstrate, or picket in any of the Capitol Buildings.40 U.S. Code § 5104 (2)(G)

Yes - it is true. There is a law against even a peaceful protest at the Capital Building (who knew) and our Federal Government is looking to charge people who are not being accused of anything violent or destructive with a Federal crime. In some cases, they are holding people without bail.

But here is the rub... none of these particular charges are anything more than a misdemeanor, and the normal sentencing for a person with no prior criminal record would be a fine with no jail time. The maximum (even for a repeat offender) is one year, which would be a fraction of that if actually served.

In order for any of this to be more than a misdemeanor is if they were carrying a firearm in the building or if they knowingly engages in an act of physical violence that results in substantial bodily harm. So far only four people were charged with having firearms and not sure that any of those people were also in the building. So these seem to be rather harmless charges for something being called by some as akin to an attempted overthrow of the Government. 

So they keep on keeping on!

The latest charge that they appear to be adding is impeding law enforcement. This charge has been added to approximately two dozen people . Yep, just like a peaceful protest at the Capital building is a crime, not following orders from law enforcement during a protest is also a crime.  If you read the charges, it's basically something that anyone, in any protest, who refuses to yield to law enforcement could be charged with.

• Whoever commits or attempts to commit any act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with any fireman or law enforcement officer lawfully engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties incident to and during the commission of a civil disorder which in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or adversely affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce or the conduct or performance of any federally protected function—18 U.S. Code § 231 (A)(3)

This charge could be considered a class E felony (up to five years) but it opens up a whole can of worms as we look at all of the BLM and Antifa protests that are still raging in many parts of the country. If you are going to charge "some" people who otherwise were peaceful with a class E felony for obstructing or impeding law enforcement, how do you justify allowing the vast majority of violent protesters off without so much as a warning as they stand off against police and quite literally engage them physically?

Lastly, about two dozen people have the term "conspiracy" add to their charges in most part because they traveled to or otherwise participated in the event together. Now interestingly enough this is only attached to cases where there is something that might qualify as a Class E felony (because conspiracy to commit a misdemeanor has no additional penalty).  Destruction of Federal property and the before above mentioned Impeding or Interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder seem to be the underlying crimes that they "conspired" to commit. 

The reality here is that this is not just overzealous prosecution. This is quite literally legal hypocrisy as they are looking to specifically charge people in this situation where they refuse to charge others for the same (if not worse) behavior in other situations.

Either way, with the news that Officer Sicknick was not murdered and the so called bear spray assault never actually happened, this is starting to look more and more politically motivated. With Biden and the Democrats doubling down on the idea that White Supremacy and Racism is the reason for everything, eventually people will start to push back. The constant political drumbeat, cancel culture, and censorship of political speech is one thing. Holding people without bail because you don't like the reason for this protest is quite another.