Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The Tennessee Star Michael Patrick Leahy dedicated a segment during Tuesday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss the imprisonment of January 6 defendant Stewart Parks, who self-reported for incarceration at the Federal Correctional Institution in Memphis on Tuesday to serve an eight-month sentence for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over several trials related to the January 6 Capitol riots, sentenced Parks (pictured above) in November 2023 to three years imprisonment on misdemeanor trespassing, disorderly conduct, and theft charges. Parks, however, will serve his sentence concurrently, reducing his term to eight months behind bars.
Parks complied with Mehta’s order and self-reported to the Federal Correctional Institution at 2:00 pm Central Time on Tuesday, marking the beginning of his eight-month prison term.
Leahy said Mehta, the “MAGA hating judge,” refused on Friday to allow Stewart to stay out of jail pending appeal, which Leahy noted would be “standard.”
“We are praying for Stewart because he’s not vaccinated, he’s a well-known advocate of the America First agenda. And we’re not sure if he’s going to be safe in this facility. He’s supposedly going to a minimum security facility, but we don’t know and they’re not really telling. He also has hearing aids. We don’t know if he’ll be able to keep his hearing aids. So this is going to be a very difficult time for him,” Leahy explained.
Leahy added that Parks’ civil rights have been “violated,” saying, “We think he’s been unjustly convicted – he’s not been tried by a jury of his peers.”
Regarding the judge claiming Parks “repeatedly lied on the witness stand,” Leahy said, “Let me say to Judge Mehta, boldly and directly – I know Stewart Parks. Stewart Parks is a friend of mine. Stewart Parks is not a liar. You claim that he lied repeatedly on the witness stand, but that is an assertion that is not at all visible.”
“This judge has it out for Stewart Parks because Stewart Parks is from Tennessee, unlike the judge, and is a conservative Christian. Now, you don’t have to agree with all of Stewart’s views, but Stewart has a First Amendment right to…state publicly that he’s not received a fair trial,” Leahy added.
“What kind of safety is Stewart going to have there? He’s a MAGA supporter. He’s a Donald Trump supporter who wears hearing aids, who didn’t take the vaccination. What are they going to do to him in there? Are they going to put him in solitary confinement? Are they going to put him in a situation where he’s going to be harmed by other prisoners who don’t like Donald Trump? This is very important. Stewart’s civil rights have been violated, but I’m very concerned about his safety and his welfare as you should be as well,” Leahy concluded.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Stewart Parks” by Stewart Parks.
