A Capitol rioter who wants out of jail now says “he feels deceived, recognizing that he bought into a pack of lies,” ABC News reported on Monday, June 7, 2021 (read story here).
That’s true. He was deceived, and bought into a pack of lies — and not just Trump’s election lies. He’s a QAnon follower, and that entire conspiracy theory is a lie, too.
ABC‘s story continues, “Douglas Jensen, in a document filed by his attorney, … claims he is ‘a victim of numerous conspiracy theories that were being fed to him over the internet by a number of very clever people, who were uniquely equipped with slight, if any, moral or social consciousness.’”
That’s probably true, too. The problem is, he’s charged with crimes (the list is too long to post here), and stupidity isn’t a defense in criminal court. Insanity is, but while listening to Trump and “Q” is insanely stupid, that doesn’t make him legally insane.
Apparently aware of that, Jensen has a couple of backup plans. This one
“The court document describes Jensen as the product of a dysfunctional childhood and said he doesn’t fully understand the reasons he was pulled into the QAnon conspiracy. It speculates he could have been influenced by a mid-life crisis, the pandemic, ‘or perhaps the message just seemed to elevate him from his ordinary life to an exalted status with an honorable goal,’”
its principal defect being that this seeks to blame his criminal behavior on everything except his own bad choices, which is unlikely to impress any judge. This one might work better:
“Court records suggest Jensen may be working toward a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.”
Yep, trade his friends for a lighter sentence. Why not? With friends like his, he needs new friends anyway. When he arrives at a federal prison, he should make friends with the biggest dude he can find, and preferably as dumb as him.
These suspects might have a better chance in demanding jury trials … ok their client might get found guilty, but some of these imprisoned rioters would walk. His attorney has chosen a strategy. Better one might be to challenge the Prosecution and tell em to bring it on. (This comment has been edited. Some content has been deleted.]
You’d make a lousy defense lawyer, because when you’re guilty, going to trial is the last thing you want to do. Your best bet is to cut the best deal with prosecutors you can, and that usually involves trading cooperation for better treatment in sentencing.