Capitol riots: Insurrectionists remain defiant despite pleading guilty

Law enforcement officials on both state and federal levels are still pursuing efforts to identify, arrest, and detain those who have participated in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. However, among those who have pleaded guilty for their crimes surrounding the riots, there are the insurrectionists that remain defiant.

Judges and prosecutors have resorted to seeking harsher punishments and rescinding of deals made with several of the Capitol insurrectionists that remain defiant despite pleading guilty for the charges against them. One example, as cited by CNN, was of Boyd Camper, whose plea hearing was postponed as Camper’s attorney objected to the agreement stating that Camper entered the Capitol “unlawfully.” A judge then told Camper’s attorney that his plea will not go forward.

Insurrectionist Robert Reeder also pleaded for a lighter sentence, requesting to be sent to probation instead as he only went into the Capitol to look for water after being subject to pepper spray. Reeder also blamed the police for not guarding the building well. Prosecutors then asked the judge to sentence Reeder to jail time, saying that Reeder’s statements were “a self-serving rewrite of history that sought to portray himself as a hapless tourist, absolve himself of any wrongdoing (and) place blame on others.”

John Lolos, another insurrectionist, said that the police waived him into the basement of the Capitol during his plea hearing. However, another insurrectionist, Anna Morgan-Lloyd flip-flopped on her statements regarding her involvement in the Capitol riots, according to CNN. Morgan-Lloyd apologized to a judge for her “shameful” participation in the insurrection but went on Fox News a day later to say that the rioters were “polite” and that the police did not tell anyone to leave the building.

Despite attempts by mostly Republicans to downplay the gravity of the Capitol riots, five people were killed in the riots while dozens of law enforcement that responded to the insurrection were left severely injured. Four police officers have committed suicide following the incident as well.

Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported that the FBI had arrested Logan Barnhart, a Michigan resident and a staunch supporter of disgraced former President Donald Trump. The arrest of Barnhart comes as “sedition hunters” online used photos on Instagram to identify him as the Capitol insurrectionist who is wanted by the feds for dragging the body of a police officer down the steps of the Capitol.