Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Tanya Chutkan's virtual courtroom, where sentencing will start soon for Troy Smocks, who pleaded guilty to post-1/6 riot threats against "RINOs, Dems, and Tech Execs": "Lets hunt these cowards down like the Traitors that each of them are." s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2107…

Smocks was in DC on Jan. 6 but wasn't charged with participating in the riots; per his lawyer, he didn't go onto the Capitol grounds. The social media messages at issue were posted to Parler on Jan. 6 while he was in DC, per plea docs

Smocks will be arguing for a sentence equivalent to time-served — he's been in custody since his arrest in mid-January, so somewhere around 9 mos. Govt is asking for low end of the guidelines range (est'd range is 8-14 mos or 10-16 mos, depending on crim history category)

Chutkan is going over objections to the presentencing report. Smocks claimed to have served in the army, govt says DoD had no record. Smocks' lawyer said there's a report that would confirm, but doesn't have it to give to the court — Chutkan says she can't do anything w/out more

Chutkan is now getting into the complicated math of figuring out Smocks' sentencing guidelines range — the calculation that the probation office came up with in the presentencing report apparently differs from what the govt/defense calculated in the plea agreement

Long story short, Chutkan goes with calculations in the plea agreement for the offense level — she rejects applying an enhancement for disrupting govt functions/causing expenditures since he posted threats before/after the riots — and the lower crim history category = 8-14 mos

Where does this put us? Chutkan will now hear args from both sides. A range of 8-14 mos means Smocks and the govt are mostly on the same page in seeking a sentence at the low end of those guidelines. But, importantly, the judge has authority to do what she wants

AUSA Michael Friedman is up, starts with Smocks' "vitriolic" posts. AUSA notes extensive crim history (18 convictions) but vast majority were 20+ years ago, so not as much weight there. Says Smocks did the right thing by coming forward to accept responsibility here

Smocks' lawyer John Machado says Smocks understands his threats were inappropriate but argues it wasn't as bad as if he'd targeted individuals by name. Chutkan jumps in and pushes back on that, since Smocks threatened members of Congress and "tech execs": "Those aren’t people?"

Machado says he wasn't trying to downplay seriousness, but argues that if Smocks had called out specific individuals, that would be different. Chutkan quips back that he might want to ask the members of Congress who were hiding under desks on Jan. 6

Machado asks to approach the bench to say something to the judge not for public ears, and she allows it. When they finish, she says she'll take what he told her into account. No discussion of why the information needed to be under seal

Chutkan asks why time-served would be sufficient deterrence when he had a bevy of prev. convictions and still did this. Machado says he was giving his political opinion and "crossed a line" and he understands that, and now that he knows, it's a matter of "adjustment of attitude"

Smocks addresses Chutkan. He begins by saying he stands by his guilty plea and will accept his punishment, but argues that because he's Black, he is being treated more harshly compared to white people who were actually inside the Capitol on Jan. 6. and getting misdemeanor pleas

One case he brings up is Dawn Bancroft, who was recorded on video as she left the Capitol saying, "We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the friggin’ brain, but we didn’t find her," and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for parading in the Capitol buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…

Smocks says that there's been racism in charging decisions around Jan. 6, and invokes the civil rights movement of the 60s. Chutkan points out that what he was calling for in his Parler posts was not the same as protesting for racial justice

Chutkan is now announcing the sentence. She says that Smocks, from the "safety" of his hotel room on Jan. 6, had "the audacity to call the rioters who sought to violently overturn the legitimate election results 'patriots'"

As for his allegations of racism, Chutkan said she finds it "offensive" that he would compare his social media posts encouraging violence against people trying to carry out the peaceful transfer of power to the fight for racial justice and civil rights

Chutkan: "People died fighting for civil rights, people were gassed, they were beaten, they were tortured mentally and physically ... for you to hold yourself up as a soldier in that fight is really quite audacious"

Chutkan says she has heard no remorse from Smocks: "All I hear is what you have suffered, Mr. Smocks"

Now: Judge Tanya Chutkan sentenced Troy Smocks, who pleaded guilty to making threats in connection with Jan. 6, to 14 months in prison — that's at the top of the 8-14 month guidelines range, more than what the defense or the government advocated for. He's already served 9 mos.

Chutkan also orders Smocks to serve three years of supervised release after he finishes serving his prison sentence. He'll be subject to the special condition of computer monitoring and searches

Context re: Smocks' reference to Bancroft: Recall the judge asked why DOJ hadn't prosecuted her for making threats, and they noted that she was leaving the building at the time; the video also wasn't public, as compared to people who posted on social media

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1451260571349827591

Smocks is the 19th person sentenced in the Jan. 6 prosecutions (he's not charged with participating in the Capitol riots but is still considered part of the broader set of cases) — 14 months is the longest sentence of incarceration ordered to date