Two Trump-appointed judges reject comparisons between January 6 and Portland unrest
Two Trump-appointed federal judges have rejected claims from January 6 defendants that they're being treated unfairly, because of their conservative politics, compared with left-leaning rioters in Portland, Oregon, in the summer of 2020.
Judge Trevor McFadden on Tuesday became the second judge in two weeks to reject the comparisons, which are popular in right-wing circles, after his colleague in Washington, DC's, federal court Carl Nichols made a similar ruling last week.
McFadden and Nichols both said the US Capitol riot defendants' arguments didn't have enough evidence to show discrimination.
In one January 6 case, defendant David Lee Judd had asked McFadden to dig into Justice Department records about prosecution decisions in Portland and DC, claiming he was being treated unfairly compared with similar defendants on the West Coast. The Capitol rioters were overwhelmingly Trump supporters unhappy with the 2020 election result, while many of the left-leaning protesters in Portland said they were fighting against racial inequality and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
McFadden refused Judd's request on Tuesday, explaining that the Portland riots didn't have the same severe consequences as the attempted coup on January 6.
"Although both Portland and January 6 rioters attacked federal buildings, the Portland defendants primarily attacked at night, meaning that they raged against a largely vacant courthouse," McFadden wrote. "In contrast, the January 6 rioters attacked the Capitol in broad daylight. And many entered it. ... Their actions endangered hundreds of federal officials in the Capitol complex. Members of Congress cowered under chairs while staffers blockaded themselves in offices, fearing physical attacks from the rioters."
Judd is charged in a nine-person indictment related to a three-hour battle inside one of the Capitol tunnels. Prosecutors say he threw a firecracker at police while they tried to hold back the mob. He pleaded not guilty.
Nichols, weighing the case against another January 6 defendant, Garrett Miller, said on December 21 that the unrest in the two cities had "obvious differences" and the disruptions put hundreds of government officials at risk.
"The Portland rioters' conduct, while obviously serious, did not target a proceeding prescribed by the Constitution and established to ensure a peaceful transition of power," Nichols wrote. "Nor did the Portland rioters, unlike those who assailed America's Capitol in 2021, make it past the buildings' outer defenses."
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2021/12/28/politics/january-6-portland-unrest-compare-judges/index.html
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