Related to current events and the recent sentencing of 6-8 months for a Capitol Rioter, the immediate knee-jerk response I saw was people claiming that BLM or ANTIFA related rioters in 2020 were sentenced from 3 to 15 years in jail for similar crimes.
However my googling shows that the vast vast majority of the “rioters” were either let go, had charges dismissed, or were charged with trespassing and other minor offenses. Other charges are still pending in courts.
Has there been anyone given 15 years or other serious time for this events?
Hadn’t heard this at all. Usually what I hear is how BLM protesters got away with violence, looting and burning without consequence, which isn’t true either.
I did find this article which suggests that protesters found guilty of splashing paint onto the DA’s building in Salt Lake City were thought to be facing sentences of “five to fifteen years” - which was a reduction from initial consideration of life in prison - but they appear to have pled down to fines and no jail time.
I am sure you know this, but in general, the actual BLM protestors are not guilty of any of those. Anarchists, right wing agitators etc, try to turn a peaceful protest into a violent riot. Professional looters will sweep in.
Mind you, yes, even peaceful protestors with splash paint, paint slogans, and what not.
A lot of BLM protest participants were initially arrested on “curfew violations”, and most of the Jan 6 ones on “trespassing”, with a minority of both picking up more serious charges (a few, considerably more serious). That’s probably the closest comparison.
Hodgkins was indicted for: (1) obstruction of an official proceeding; (2) entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; (3) disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds; (4) disorderly conduct in the Capitol; and (5) parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol.
Counts two through five are going to have pretty direct parallels in other protests (BLM or otherwise).
Perhaps. That’s not how I read it. I didn’t view it as a reflection on the specific offense that he plead to as much as a general statement about “sentences” in relations to “crimes” committed (or conduct more generally).
In that case, it’s easier. I’ll say, as a GQ matter, than the OP’s “people” were wrong. No BLM or ANTIFA rioter was sentenced to 15 years for obstruction of official proceedings or obstruction of legal process. (Either under federal law or state law).
A disparity in sentences (if it exists) could also result from a disparity in which charges were pursued, as well as from different sentencing for any given charge.
Thanks for the non-paywalled link, but I disagree that blogs are factual citations. Anyone can create a blog. The one you linked to is clearly an opinion piece.
Some newspapers, magazines, and other news organizations host online columns they call blogs. These may be acceptable sources if the writers are professionals, but use them with caution because blogs may not be subject to the news organization’s normal fact-checking process.[8] If a news organization publishes an opinion piece in a blog, attribute the statement to the writer, e.g. “Jane Smith wrote …” Never use the blog comments that are left by the readers as sources. For personal or group blogs that are not reliable sources, see § Self-published sources below.
They clearly have no problem with a Washington Post blog citing the CCC’s study.
“The Crowd Counting Consortium (CCC) … collects publicly available data on political crowds reported in the United States, including marches, protests, strikes, demonstrations, riots, and other actions.”
I’m sure anyone interested can go through that same publically available data and look for discrepancies between the data and what the CCC claims.