Thread by @JordanOnRecord

At 1 p.m. Brandon and Stephanie Miller will be back in court for sentencing before Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. #CapitolRiot @wusa9 @EricFlackTV

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1435349346355191814

The DOJ is asking for three months of home detention for Brandon Miller and two months for Stephanie, along with 36 months of probation for each. DOJ is asking for the extra month for Brandon due to his live streams during and after downplaying the #CapitolRiot.

Stephanie Miller kept her #CapitolRiot messages in the DMs, writing that, "We're hoping we don't get charges, but we'll proudly take them if so." She also wrote that she and her husband "enjoyed every part of what we did and was a part of."

Brandon Miller is represented by attorney William Welch. His wife Stephanie is represented by Joanne Slaight. The AUSA is Clayton O'Connor.

Brandon Miller's attorney says the court should "not miss the opportunity to show Brandon that community service is the way to help your country." Suggests it could create a sense of bonding and belonging for him.

Welch says the worst thing that has happened to Brandon Miller since his arrest is that his grandmother has stopped speaking to him. Cousins have also cut off communication. Welch says Miller's grandmother's house was the only place where he felt comfortable.

Welch says Brandon Miller had worked as a drywall finisher until he was 17, when he left school to begin working. He has had difficulty finding work since his arrest in March.

Welch says he "speculates" Brandon Miller will lose his current job if he is sent to jail. Relevant, because Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing this case, has sent #CapitolRiot defendants to jail even when the DOJ only asked for probation.

Judge Chutkan says what Welch is asking for is "no change" from the conditions Miller is currently under, except for the community service requirement.

Welch's argument is that "there's a chance" if Brandon Miller is sentenced to community service instead of jail it will "change his thinking" and reduce the ostracism he's faced. He does not elaborate on what thoughts of Millers' need to be changed.

Welch asks if Chutkan does send Brandon Miller to jail that it be staggered from the time his wife may also have to serve. He helps raise her minor son.

Brandon Miller declines to make a statement. Attorney Joanne Slaight is speaking now. Says Stephanie Miller had to resign from her job following her arrest. Says she's been working part-time in different jobs since then to help support the family.

Both Brandon and Stephanie Miller have some prior criminal history, although it's fairly low level and much of it from a while ago.

"People are complicated. I've always known that," Judge Chutkan says, noting that she was a former public defender herself. "I see this all the time. People are loved by their family and friends, but they've done a terrible thing."

"This was not a protest. This was a call to arms by individuals who were not prepared to accept they lost an election," Judge Chutkan says.

"They didn't just walk through a door. They climbed through a broken window... they knew full well of the violence that had preceded their entry," Judge Chutkan says. "The fact is that they were part of a mob... that was intent on stopping the lawful transfer of power."

"It amounted to an attempted overthrow of the government. I don't believe that's hyperbole," Judge Chutkan says.

Judge Chutkan says even if they didn't at the time, in the aftermath the Millers should have been aware of "how close we came to losing the reins of our democracy." Nevertheless, they "celebrated their participation. They said they would happily take charges."

"I never hear any remorse for the people who suffered that day. For the police officers who lost their lives. For the people who worked in that building who were terrified they'd never see their families again," Chutkan says. "All I hear about is how the defendants suffered."

Judge Chutkan says she's thought long and hard about this sentence. Notes that the Millers have never had to return to D.C. to answer for their crime: "The country is watching. There have to be consequences for participating in the attempted violent overthrow of the government."

Says the DOJ is asking her to essentially allow the Millers to stay under the same conditions they've been in, which is being at home with their families. "And I don't think that's sufficient," she says.

Judge Chutkan says the calls to overthrow the government have continued "at a rate and a volume that's alarming." Sentences in #CapitolRiot cases should show that there are consequences for that.

🚨 SENTENCE: U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan sentences Brandon Miller to 20 days in jail and Stephanie Miller to 14 days in jail. The Ohio couple will also have to complete 60 hours of community service and pay $500 in restitution each. #CapitolRiot

Judge Chutkan allows the Millers to serve their sentences staggered so one of them will be at home to take care of Stephanie's minor child.

Stephanie Miller's attorney, Joanne Slaight, questions whether a sentence of incarceration + community service is permissible for their sentencing level. Judge Chutkan says she's ordered it before, but to file a motion if she thinks it's not.

"Mr. and Mrs. Miller, I say this all the time, but you are not the worst things you have done," Judge Chutkan says.