The Biden Department of Justice continues its heavy-handed approach of weaponizing the judiciary against its critics, using the events of January 6th to set countless examples that make instances of despotic regimes criminalizing dissent tantamount to a blueprint that Attorney General Merrick Garland has chosen to follow. Just days after the former chairman of the Proud Boys was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the longest of any January 6th defendant this far, the Biden DoJ has made it clear that no stone will be left unturned in penalizing anyone charged for their role at the capitol that day; even for the most miniscule of infractions. That unrelenting stringency has reached new levels of scrutiny in the case of US v. Jonathan Owen Shroyer. The defendant in that case being Owen Shroyer, a long time host on InfoWars and one of Alex Jones' longest tenured and most public facing media personalities.
Although Shroyer reached a plea agreement in which Merrick Garland's DoJ dropped many of the charges brought against him, prosecutors are still seeking 120 days in prison for Shroyer simply for his actions of speaking out against the results of the 2020 Presidential Election at the capitol on January 6th. The actions that the DoJ is rationalizing their sentencing recommendation against Shroyer come from the Statement of Offense made in his plea deal. In that allocution, Shroyer affirms that he was present during the January 6th demonstration and admits to making statements including beckoning others in attendance that “We will not accept the fake election of that child-molesting Joe Biden, that Chinese Communist agent Joe Biden, we know where he belongs and it’s not the White House!” The agreement Shroyer entered into with the Biden DoJ would find him guilty of the Class A Misdemeanor of Entering And Remaining In A Restricted Building or Grounds.
Despite the flaccid leverage that plea deal gave prosecutors, they are seemingly hell-bent on making an example of Shroyer in line with the vitriol they've levied against his follow January 6th defendants. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), which sets the rules of procedure for sentencing in a federally filed criminal case, prosecutors have recommended that Shroyer be sentenced to 120 days of incarceration, 12 months of supervised release, and $500 in restitution simply for what he said on January 6th. This means that the rationale for the prosecution's sentencing recommendation is wholly intent on criminalizing the defendant's free speech.
