Judge vacates order against J6 defendants, says they can visit US Capitol without asking for permission
On January 6, the accused who received commutations from the president Donald Trump are free to visit the US Capitol without receiving prior approval, a federal judge ruled Monday.
District Judge Amit Mehta issued the order in response to a request from Trump’s Justice Department. Some of the defendants on Jan. 6 included restrictions on visits to the Capitol as part of their sentences, and the DOJ asked that those requirements be removed.
Mehta declined to remove the restrictions from her sentencing documents, but acknowledged that Trump’s commutation means those restrictions will not be enforced.
“The US Department of Justice’s motion is granted in part and denied in part,” Mehta wrote. “The court will not” dismiss “the custodial portion of the defendant’s sentence, but the defendants are no longer bound by judicially imposed conditions of supervised release.”
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Certain J6 defendants who had sentences served by President Trump were free to visit the US Capitol without authorization. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
The reversal comes days after Mehta imposed a restraining order on “Defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins, Roberto Minuta, Edward Vallejo, David Moerchel and Joseph Hacket,” whose sentences were vacated. Those pardoned were not subject to the warrant.
The order stated: “You shall not knowingly enter the District of Columbia without first obtaining permission of the court,” adding, “You shall not knowingly enter the building of the United States Capitol or the surrounding grounds known as the Capitol.”
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While pardons vacate the defendant’s conviction, commutation leaves the conviction in place while reducing the sentence. Mehta argued that Trump’s pardon language for the defendants in question applied only to their prison terms, not the details of their supervised release.
Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes speaks during the Patriots Free Speech Rally in Berkeley, California on April 15, 2017. (Reuters/Jim Urquhart)
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Jonathan Turley, a News Media associate and Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, called the order “very unusual” when he broke the news last week.
“The judge relies on the fact that the sentences were negotiated, but the defendants did not receive full pardons,” Turley told Fox News Digital.
President Donald Trump pardoned nearly all of the J6 indictees last week. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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Trump pardoned almost all of those charged on January 6 earlier this week after promising to do so at his inauguration parade.
