Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Carl Nichols' virtual courtroom, where a plea hearing is set to begin soon for Jan. 6 defendant Michael Curzio. He's a misdemeanor-only case, but has been kept in jail post-arrest (see thread for more background)

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1413234115101536262

Curzio is pleading guilty to one count of Parading, Demonstrating, or Picketing in a Capitol Building (max. sentence is 6 mos in jail), which has been the standard deal so far for Jan. 6 defendants charged solely with misdemeanors

Curzio says he's pleading guilty, notes that his presence in the Capitol was captured on video. He tells the judge he didn't hear it when US Capitol Police came in and told people to leave, but isn't going to officially fight the govt's description of what happened

Curzio's plea deal incl. $500 in restitution (the amount other misdemeanor pleas in the Jan. 6 cases have included, it's $2K for felony pleas), and also cooperation, but his lawyer says he already fulfilled that by meeting with law enforcement post-arrest

Twist: As of July 14 — two days from now — Curzio will have spent six months in jail, which is the max he could be sentenced to for the misdemeanor he's now pleaded guilty to. Curzio's lawyer wants to move to sentencing now, govt wants to wait (and release him in the meantime)

Judge Nichols agrees with Curzio's lawyer to do sentencing now and that Curzio should be sentenced to time served, since six months is the max the judge could hand down regardless. Also orders the $500 restitution

For those wondering: The govt wanted to wait to do sentencing for Curzio (and release him in the meantime) to have time to file a formal sentencing memo and, in general, continue building out the written record in the Jan. 6 cases

To recap: Jan. 6 defendant Michael Curzio pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor and received a sentence of six months in jail (the max possible), *but* this gets a big asterisk because he'd already spent six months in pretrial detention, which makes this case very unusual

Curzio is the only Jan. 6 defendant charged solely w/ misdemeanors who was kept in jail (Kash Kelly and Adam Honeycutt are also behind bars, but that's because of other criminal cases). This does not mean future misdemeanor plea deals will result in max sentences like this one

Another way of saying this — Curzio's situation was so unusual compared to other misdemeanor-only Jan. 6 cases, it's unlikely that his sentence now sets a standard and the govt will suddenly start arguing for max sentences in other misdemeanor-only plea deal cases

Curzio made a brief statement at the end of today's hearing: "I accept responsibility for my actions and what I did." He also thanked the judge "for being fair"