Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from Judge Carl Nichols' virtual courtroom, where sentencing is about to start for Jan. 6 defs Dalton Crase and Troy Williams, who pleaded guilty to the parading misdemeanor. Govt wants 30 days in jail, they would like probation

Here's the dial-in info for Nichols if you'd like to listen along:
Toll Free Number: 877-873-8017
Access Code: 8692421

In arguing for a month, prosecutors note the pair went into the Capitol twice, and video captured Williams saying the riot was "just to let them know that when push comes to shove, we will fight. We will just walk into this bitch ... if things don’t change, we’ll make a change"

The public line for this hearing dropped out for a few minutes but it's back on now, the prosecutor is still delivering the govt's presentation and showing videos to the judge

I can't see the videos being shown since the remote line is audio-only, it's a lot of mob chaos noise, chants of "USA! USA!" and "our house," banging, yelling, alarms going off

AUSA Tejpal Chawla argues the fact that Crase and Williams went in a second time after leaving is what makes their case more serious — they know the Capitol has been breached and law enforcement is trying to regain control, and discuss justification for political violence

Another video from Crase and Williams' time in the Capitol, can hear more chaos noise, multiple people screaming, "Hold the fucking line," as, Chawla explains after pausing the clip, police are trying to push rioters back

The govt has only recently started arguing for incarceration + probation in the parading plea deal cases — there's been some uncertainty about whether that's an option for a class B misdemeanor/petty offense. Nichols is engaging Chawla in a discussion about the authority for that

For those interested: There's one federal statute that the govt acknowledges broadly prohibits incarceration + probation (law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…), but the govt contends another statute carves out an exception for petty offenses like the parading count (law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18…)

Why does this matter? Some judges have expressed concern/frustration that the class B misdemeanor pleas limit sentencing options, and they'd prefer to have longer-term court supervision (aka probation) as an option as well as incarceration

Crase's lawyer Dani Jahn says their position is that incarceration + probation is not an option the way the statutes are worded, and says only one judge in a Jan. 6 case has agreed to do that (Judge Kollar-Kotelly in the Virginia Spencer case), and that's going to be appealed

Jahn is now back to the specifics of Crase's case, argues that probation is more appropriate, that he's expressed remorse and worked to turn his life around

Nichols offers a window into his thinking on Jan. 6 cases, says he thinks Williams/Crase present a "worse" record than other defendants he's sentenced so far because there's evidence they saw the violence and were still willing to go in, were part of group pushing against police

Back to this sentencing, the judge briefly heard from Crase, who said he was having difficulty speaking and directed the judge to a letter he wrote, and from Williams, who talked about his remorse

AUSA concluded by saying if Nichols wasn't inclined to impose incarceration, the govt wants significant home detention b/c Crase/Williams are not on the low end of the spectrum. He says the govt could make a case that everyone who went in deserves jail, but they're not doing that

Nichols is taking a short recess before announcing the sentence

Nichols is back on the bench. He begins by going over the facts of what happened on Jan. 6, says that watching the videos that the govt presented was a "stark reminder" of how "horrible" the events of that day were

Nichols draws a comparison to the case of Bradley Rukstales, who threw a chair twoards police and who the judge sentenced to 1 month incarceration. He says he considers Dalton/Crase on that more serious end of the spectrum of parading cases, but not as serious as Rukstales

Nichols says he's not clear on the incarceration + probation question, but where he lands is a sentence of 3 years of probation with 15 days of intermittent incarceration (often served on weekends) as a *condition* of probation, which is a different construction of that combo

Crase's lawyer Dani Jahn notes an objection to the 15-day intermittent confinement, noting the govt had stated that it believed the maximum period a court could impose as a condition of probation was 14 days. Nichols says he doesn't agree that's the limit, notes the objection

Crase asks the judge to clarify that the intermitttent "confinement" ordered as a condition of probation means jail. Nichols says it's typically jail or a halfway house, that'll get worked out between Crase (and his lawyer) and the probation office

The end of this sentencing has gotten very muddled as the lawyers and the judge discuss whether he could order the intermittent incarceration to be served all at once, with defense attys discussing covid risks posed by going into a facility on multiple weekends

Nichols is going to wait to make his sentence final until he gets more briefing on this, but makes clear he's not going to disturb the core of the sentence (15 days incarceration as condition of 3 years probation). That's a wrap.