Tag: misdemeanor

Steve Baker Explains ‘Only Reason’ Why He Pleaded Guilty in January 6 Case

Kaitlin Housler
Steve Baker

Steve Baker, an opinion contributor for Blaze News and independent investigative journalist, said he pleaded guilty to four misdemeanor charges stemming from his presence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to avoid a “shaming exercise” of a trial by a liberal jury in a D.C. courtroom.

Baker, who is among a small group of journalists being prosecuted for being present at the Capitol on January 6, entered an Alfred plea to avoid a trial by jury in a Washington D.C. courtroom in front of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper on Tuesday.

Read the full story

U.S. Supreme Court Allows State Officials to Ban January 6 Protesters from Holding State and Local Offices for ‘Insurrection’

Rachel Alexander
Couy Griffin

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was removed from office by a state court for his role in the January 6 protest. This left in place a lower court’s decision to remove and bar Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, from office for “aid[ing] the insurrection even though he did not personally engage in violence.” Griffin was convicted of a misdemeanor for trespassing on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol. Griffin never entered the Capitol building.

His attorney Peter Ticktin stated in court filings submitting to the Supreme Court, “If the decision … is to stand, at least in New Mexico, it is now the crime of insurrection to gather people to pray together for the United States of America on the unmarked restricted grounds of the Capitol building.” He argued that Griffin was “fundamentally exercising his Constitutional rights to free speech and assembly.”

Read the full story

State Senator John Kavanaugh to Pitch Law for Harsher Penalties on Protesters Who Block Arizona Highways

Tom Pappert

State Senator John Kavanaugh (R-Maricopa) is reportedly preparing to pitch legislation that will increase penalties for protesters who block Arizona’s highways and public thoroughfare, with the lawmaker highlighting a recent pro-Palestine protest in California that saw roads blocked for hours.

Kavanaugh said he intends to file a bill that would raise criminal penalties for those who block Arizona’s highways, he told The Arizona Daily Star, explaining his legislation will make protesters who “block a highway, bridge, or tunnel for more than 15 minutes after they’ve been told to leave” guilty of a Class 6 felony. If found guilty, those convicted face a recommended sentence of one year in a state prison.

Read the full story

Tennessee Man Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Spending 22 Minutes in Capitol on January 6

Just the News

A Tennessee man was sentenced to four years in prison after he entered the U.S. Capitol through a fire door on Jan. 6, 2021, and spent 22 minutes in the building during the riot.

Matthew Bledsoe, 38, was found guilty in July on a felony obstruction charge and four misdemeanor counts. He “scaled a wall … and entered through a fire door at the Senate Wing,” the Justice Department stated Friday.

Read the full story

Northeast Ohio School Districts Add Cameras to Catch Motorists Illegally Passing Buses

Hannah Poling

School districts in Northeast Ohio are adding cameras to their buses to increase precautions for student safety.

School bus cameras typically attach to the outside of the bus next to the stop sign that swings outward to alert motorists that children are either boarding or unboarding the bus. These cameras encompass two lenses one facing to the back and one to the front of the bus so they can record any motorist who illegally passes. Some buses also have a camera mounted on the inside of the bus to read license plate numbers.

Read the full story

Commentary: The GOP Brought Historic Criminal Justice Reforms to Georgia – The Rest of the Nation Should Be Watching

Admin

The GOP has been busy enacting effective legislative reform aimed at real-world problems in our great nation — something Democrats can hardly boast.

Take Georgia’s accomplishments in the realm of criminal justice reform, for instance. Georgia has been the focus of national media and political obsession for the past few years. President Joe Biden himself called the Georgia voting reform bill “Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” miring state-level politics in the national racial debates. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s various policy efforts have faced unrelenting attacks from politicos and progressive journalists alike.

Read the full story