Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Reggie Walton's virtual courtroom, where sentencing is about to begin for Capitol rioters Lori Ann and Thomas Vinson. Both pleaded guilty to the parading misdemeanor, govt wants 30 days incarceration for her and home confinement for him

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1420030523129352196

AUSA Mary Dohrmann begins by stressing that the govt has already accounted for the fact that a person didn't commit violence or property destruction in the plea offers that they made to defendants: "No further benefit should be received by them on that account alone."

AUSA says the govt is asking for incarceration for Lori Vinson and not her husband because of a few aggravating factors — lack of candor to law enforcement and repeated statements to news outlets "doubling down" in defense of her participation

AUSA reads the quotes featured in the govt's sentencing memo from Lori Vinson's media interviews, including: "People have asked are you sorry that you done that, absolutely I am not, I am not sorry for that, I would do it again tomorrow"

Lori Vinson's lawyer Chastity Beyl is up, they're asking for 5 years probation + 100 hours community service. She says incarceration is more than what's necessary, stressing that the probation term is the longest period possible

Beyl argues Lori Vinson is different from defs who pleaded to the same misdmeanor and got jail time because: she didn't engage in "violent" rhetoric, didn't encourage others, told people not to damage property, didn't come dressed for battle, wasn't part of an organizing group

Beyl says that Lori Vinson is remorseful and has been fully compliant on supervised release for months, and argues that's proof that a lengthy period of probation would work, and that going through this whole process is "adequate deterrence": "This is a lesson well-learned."

If the judge is inclined to have Lori Vinson serve jail time, her lawyer asks that she be allowed to do it on weekends so that she can still get to her contract nursing job

AUSA is now showing the judge some videos from Jan. 6 (I'm dialed in to the remote line, which is audio only) - she says the video she's playing now shows the couple at the Capitol and illustrates their awareness of law enforcement on the scene

I can't see the video, but I can hear it - the crowd is chanting "USA! USA!" AUSA says the video shows Lori Vinson near a lengthy stand-off between rioters and police

Walton says he's having some difficulty discerning where the Vinsons are in the first video, so the AUSA is walking him through whatever is on the screen right now

AUSA says the govt believes that Thomas Vinson was recording confrontation between rioters and police inside the Capitol based on a red bar on his phone screen captured in other images, but the govt never found videos from his phone

Judge Walton says he finds it "unbelievable" that Lori Vinson wouldn't have understood she was part of a mob "invading" the Capitol, and is incredulous that she then did interviews after saying she was proud of it

Walton says he knows that these types of comments about Jan. 6 have impact because judges handling these cases are receiving threats and hostile calls, and he draws a direct line to people who continue to insist the election was fraudulent.

To Vinson's lawyer: "Response."

Lori Vinson's lawyer replies that her client did experience disassociation with what was going on around her, and the lawyer says she did a tour of the Capitol and found it a confusing space to navigate. She repeats that Lori Vinson is remorseful

Thomas Vinson's lawyer is up, says he felt a "deep degree of remorse" when he woke up the next day and saw news coverage. Says Vinson cooperated and refutes there's proof he destroyed evidence (videos from his phone) — says there was a "phone malfunction" and he got a new phone

Walton asks if Vinson transferred content over to the new phone, and defense atty says some was transferred (incl. content from Jan. 6) but some wasn't, "the technology is beyond us." Atty says Vinson initially offered his phone to the FBI and they said no; AUSA disputes that

Thomas Vinson's lawyer says he asked why Vinson stayed around the chaos unfolding, and the reply was that Vinson didn't want to leave his wife, that part of why they were in the Capitol as long as they were was because they were trying to figure out how to get out

Walton says no one has talked about whether a fine would be appropriate, in addition to the $500 in restitution, to cover taxpayer money that now has to be "shelled out" to pay for $1.4M+ damage to the Capitol: "There are a lot of needs that are going unmet in our country."

Walton notes that the record shows the Vinsons have six cars that appear to have monthly outlays of $2,100-$2,300

Lori Vinson's lawyer says they've talked about the possibility of a fine and she would be willing to pay that, but asks that it be in lieu of any jail time

Walton is taking a short break, when they come back he'll give the Vinsons a chance to speak before announcing their sentence

The Vinson sentencing hearing is back, Lori Vinson addresses Judge Walton first: "I would like to start by apologizing to this court and the United States for my actions on January 6. It was never ever my intention to go to Washington, DC, and break the law."

Addressing her comments to the media about being proud of what happened, Lori Vinson says the devastation of losing her job because of her participation in the riots caused her to say things that were "not truly in my heart"

She talks about wanting to keep her job, which includes caring for COVID patients, and also worries about what will happen to a person she cares for (a resident in one of the rental properties that the couple owns) who has disabilities

Thomas Vinson addresses the judge, also apologizes for going into the Capitol, says they went as "peaceful people" but that he "made a terrible decision by going into that building." He insists that from their position they didn't see the violence taking place elsewhere

Thomas Vinson maintains he did offer his phone to an FBI agent during an early conversation, and says the agent said it wasn't necessary and also told Vinson he probably wouldn't hear from them again

Vinson says they provide assistance to many of the families who live in the rental properties that they own, and that it can be a daily need for things like transportation

Walton says a couple things concern him: First, it was "clear" a confrontation was taking place and Vinson's decision to photograph it suggested he approved of what was going on. Vinson insists that's not why he was doing it, but wanted to understand what was going on

Walton is on a tear: "But what concerns me is that both of you were gullible enough that based upon statmeents being made for which there was no proof to support the allegations, you all bought in on it. Hook, line, and sinker."

Walton, voice rising: "We’re tearing our country apart. We are so divided as a country that we’re killing ourselves as a country. And I worry about the future of our country when we have this divide that now exists ... that we’re prepared to engage in this type of behaivor."

Walton says he worries that if people like the Vinsons bought into the "bogus proposition" of election fraud last time, what's to stop something similar from happening again in the future among supporters of whatever party loses next

Thomas Vinson says he'll never do something like that again, says he's not interested in parsing what happened in the election and accepts that Joe Biden is president. Lori Vinson defends them not understanding the full scope of what was going on because of the size of the crowd

Walton says what happened on Jan. 6 "threatens our democracy" and that anyone who knows him knows he believes that anybody who does crime, "you better be prepared to do time"

Jan. 6 was a "stain on this country," Walton says: "I don't know how we ever get away from it."

Walton also indicates that he feels strongly that Capitol rioters need to be able to pay to cover the cost of damage to the building, and understands that incarceration can get in the way of that

Walton says that ultimately, he believes that a jail sentence isn't appropriate for Lori Vinson given the cost incurred by taxpayers for incarceration and balancing the need for her to be able to pay back the govt for damage to the Capitol and care for people in her community

Walton will order a period of five years probation for Lori and Thomas Vinson, and a $5,000 fine for each, $100/mo minimum payment, + $500 restitution each.
"I want the sentence to hurt, because people have to understand that if you do something like this, it's going to hurt."

Walton also orders the Vinsons to each perform 120 hours of community service

$5,000 is the maximum fine possible for the class B misdmeanor that the Vinsons pleaded guilty to. This is the highest fine we've seen in any Capitol riot case so far — a fine is separate from restitution amounts that have been part of the plea deals

And that is a wrap on that hearing