![]() ![]() The memo, some of which was read to NPR, asked officials, among other things, to develop a kind of continuum of culpability. A prosecution memoīack in the spring, the Justice Department in Washington sent a memo to department lawyers setting out a strategy for the prosecution of the Jan. That was 97% of the people."Īccording to NPR's Capitol riot database, about 20% of the people charged are accused of committing acts of violence. It was a walk-through by people taking selfies. "This whole thing about insurrection is a bunch of BS," Ianni said. "We said if you love liberty you can march in our parade." "It wasn't anti-anything," Ianni maintains. Perhaps that's because a right-wing extremist group called the Proud Boys provided security for the event, and one of the parade's headliners was Milo Yiannopoulos, who is known for his racist and misogynist rants. The point wasn't anti-gay, she said, although a lot of people saw it that way. Ianni told me that the organizers thought straight people deserved a parade just like gay people did. 6.īefore the Capitol riot, the group's greatest claim to fame was organizing the 2019 Straight Rights Parade in Boston. It has ties to far-right extremists, and a handful of its members, in addition to Ianni, are facing charges related to Jan. Super Happy Fun America is more complicated than its jovial name would suggest. She describes it as a "center-right civil activist organization." Super Happy Fun Americaīefore all this happened, Ianni was best known in the Boston suburb of Natick, Mass., as one of the first members of a group called Super Happy Fun America. Illuminating that would go a long way toward clarifying what actually took place that day. Officials are investigating whether or not there is hard evidence that shows the assault was planned in advance. These are the people investigators believe are connected to right-wing extremist groups such as the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. He was seen carrying a red-and-white "Trump 2020" flag into the well of the Senate, while others stood over the vice president's abandoned chair.Īnd finally there is a category that prosecutors have yet to define precisely. They are facing charges of civil disorder and assault and include people such as Tampa, Fla., crane operator Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38. The second category of defendants includes those who broke into the Capitol, damaged property and attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election. ![]() 6, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit." Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who rather infamously said, "If you didn't know the TV footage was a video from Jan. The shorthand used to describe these people (both among some Justice Department insiders and defense attorneys) is "the tourist cases" - a nickname derived from the words of Rep. The first includes people such as Ianni who went inside the Capitol and allegedly walked around but aren't charged with property damage or assaulting police. The Justice Department has created a kind of framework for prosecutions, dividing the Jan. The Justice Department declined to comment about the case or for this story. All this, just over trespassing and disorderly conduct - two of the basic charges related to the Capitol riot. She and her attorney say she was offered a plea agreement in May - four months after her arrest - which the prosecutor said was a take-it-or-leave it deal and had to be approved by officials in Washington, D.C., before it could be confirmed. By spring, she had already seen two prosecutors cycle through her case and has recently been assigned a third. Ianni had a typical experience: Though she was arrested less than two weeks after the riot, it took months for prosecutors to provide her lawyer with even the most basic evidence. "I'm like OK, I'm not going to hang myself over trespassing, you know." ![]() The morning the FBI came, she recalls her husband handing her a coat and some shoes and then when the agents told him "no laces," Ianni couldn't help but laugh. She stands accused of disorderly conduct and being inside a federal building illegally. Ianni, a 59-year-old mother of three, is one of the more than 570 people charged as being part of the mob that overran the U.S. "And they're like, OK just relax," she said. While Ianni had been expecting federal agents for days, she wasn't fully prepared for their arrival or for the moment when they said, "You're under arrest." "And I just sat down in a chair, I was trying to catch my breath," she told NPR. All she could think was: "Aw, they're here." The woman in blue with her fist raised was later identified as Suzanne Ianni.Įarly one morning in January, Suzanne Ianni peered through her window to discover two black SUVs and a police cruiser parked in front of her house. Trump supporters breach security and storm inside the U.S. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |