Supreme Court Action Leads to Early Release of Jan. 6 Prisoner Who Carried Confederate Flag
Jan. 6 prisoner has received early launch from jail because of a Supreme Courtroom resolution to evaluation using a felony obstruction cost in opposition to Jan. 6 detainees.
A Delaware man serving a three-year sentence for marching by way of the halls of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, has received early launch because of a Supreme Courtroom resolution to evaluation the Biden administration’s novel use of an evidence-tampering legislation to prosecute lots of of Jan. 6 defendants for felony obstruction of Congress.
Mr. Seefried, who’s been incarcerated since Could 31, 2023, appealed his conviction and sentence a number of occasions.
“The Bureau of Prisons is ordered to launch Seefried one yr after the day on which he surrendered to custody,” the decide wrote within the memorandum and order, that means that Mr. Seefried will stay behind bars till Could 31.
Supreme Courtroom Paves Approach For Early Launch
In December 2023, the Supreme Courtroom determined it might take up an enchantment by Jan. 6 defendant Joseph W. Fisher of the Biden administration’s novel use of an Enron-era evidence-tampering legislation to prosecute lots of of defendants for obstruction of Congress through the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.
The obstruction of Congress cost—which carries a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail—is essentially the most extensively charged felony in Jan. 6 instances, together with in opposition to Mr. Seefried.
Mr. Fischer was indicted for numerous alleged offenses for his position within the Jan. 6 incident, together with obstruction of legislation enforcement throughout a civil dysfunction, violent entry, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds—and obstruction of Congress primarily based on 18 U.S. Code Part 1512(c)(2), or “Tampering with a witness, sufferer, or an informant.”
Part 1512(c)(2) is an evidence-tampering provision that’s a part of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which consultants say was conceived largely to curb wrongdoing on Wall Avenue. Nevertheless, it’s now being utilized by the Justice Division (DOJ) to prosecute Jan. 6 instances, sparking controversy and a authorized problem.
If the problem proves profitable, the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution might have far-reaching penalties, probably overturning felony convictions for quite a few Jan. 6 defendants and erasing some prices in opposition to former President Donald Trump, who has additionally been charged underneath this provision.
Because the Supreme Courtroom agreed in mid-December to take up the Fischer enchantment, quite a few Jan. 6 defendants, together with Mr. Seefried, have requested judges to pause their trials, sentencing proceedings, or grant launch pending enchantment.
‘Not Probably To Flee’
Mr. Seefried first appealed his conviction and sentence to the D.C. Circuit on Feb. 17, 2023, and later moved for launch pending the decision of that enchantment.
This led to the March 26 resolution by Decide McFadden to order Mr. Seefried launched after serving 12 months of his sentence, placing him on observe to be freed on Could 31.
“By clear and convincing proof, Seefried shouldn’t be more likely to flee the jurisdiction or pose a hurt to the neighborhood throughout his launch,” the decide wrote within the order.
Prosecutors initially sought 70 months behind bars for Mr. Seefried, arguing in courtroom paperwork that he “stood resolute with the rioters” as they demanded to know the whereabouts of congressional lawmakers who gathered on Capitol Hill to certify the Electoral School votes.
They argued that he thrust the butt of his flagpole at an officer and that the Confedarate flag affixed to the flagpole was a “weapon able to inflicting critical harm” as a result of Mr. Seefried wielded it as he stood “on the entrance of a unstable, rising mob in the direction of a solitary, Black police officer.”
Mr. Seefried’s attorneys wrote in filings that he has expressed “quick and unwavering” regret for his actions and defined that he introduced the Accomplice flag to protest reasonably than specific any sort of racist sentiment.
In addition they argued that Mr. Seefried didn’t intend to hinder Congress’s work however solely to protest what he believed was a stolen election.