Attorney General Merrick Garland touted the U.S. Department of Justice's commitment to “the civil rights and civil liberties of every person in this country,” marking the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 protests and riot at the U.S. Capitol. and expressed his pride that 1,583 people had been arrested.
The Justice Department said in its final statistical report of Garland's term on Jan. 6 that the FBI arrested 1,583 people on Jan. 6 charges over a four-year period. Nearly 320 people were arrested last year alone. More arrests and charges are expected before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office on January 20th. It is widely expected that President Trump will pardon the defendants on January 6th.
“My family has been devastated by the government for the last four years.”
wreath He praised the prosecutors at the Justice Department. and other staff who conducted the extensive investigation and prosecution of the J6ers.
Officials have “worked with relentless integrity to hold accountable those criminals responsible for the January 6th attack on our democracy,” Garland said. “They have acted in a manner that upholds the rule of law and respects the obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all people in this country.”
Garland's views were at odds with the defendants' sentiments on Jan. 6, when they posted on social media to celebrate their fourth anniversary.
“This has been a difficult four years, not just for me, but for people across this country,” Marine Corps veteran Christopher Kuehne said in a video posted. ×. “My family has been devastated by the government for the past four years, constant persecution, prison sentences, loss of life for my family, and it is because of people like you that I am still able to continue. ”
Kuehne and his wife, Annette, lost their unborn child the day after an FBI task force raided their Kansas home in 2021. Kuehne remains under home detention after being released from a 75-day prison sentence in November 2024. He took a plea deal. Charged with obstructing law enforcement during a civil disturbance.
incomplete death count
In a statement released by the Department of Justice, Garland lamented the “five police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty” in the January 6, 2021 incident, but did not name the officers.
No police officers died on January 6th.
Capitol Police Officer Brian David Sicknick, 42, died on January 7 of what the medical examiner ruled was natural causes after suffering two strokes.
Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood, 51, and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Lewis Smith, 35. Günter Paul Hasida, 43 years old. and Kyle Hendrik DeFreitag, 26, died by suicide within seven months of January 6th. Both departments and the Department of Justice confirmed the deaths were line-of-duty. Everything was working on January 6, 2021.
Garland did not mention the four Donald J. Trump supporters who died on January 6th. Roseanne Marie Boyland, 34, died of asphyxiation after a gang attack in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. Kevin Gleason, 55, died of cardiac arrest. Benjamin J. Phillips, 50, died of a stroke.
A bystander uses a bicycle rack as a makeshift stretcher to carry the lifeless Benjamin J. Phillips to an ambulance on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.U.S. Capitol Police surveillance cameras
Garland also did not mention the five defendants who took their own lives while being prosecuted on January 6th. David Kennedy Homol, 55 years old. Nejurd Thomas “Joad” Meacham, 22 years old. Mark Robert Angst, 47 years old. and Christopher Stanton of Georgia, 53 years old.
Jeri Perna, Matthew Perna's aunt who has lobbied Congress to reform the Justice Department, said marking the four-year anniversary on Jan. 6 was difficult.
“The J6ers will get their lives back,” Perna told Blaze News. “I lost Matt and my brother. They're never coming back. I feel cheated.”
Matthew Perna hanged himself in his garage in February 2022, shortly after learning that the Justice Department planned to seek several years in prison for his four guilty pleas. committed suicide. Jeri Perna The nephew said the judicial process in Washington, D.C., left him exhausted and traumatized.
Matthew Perna and his grandfather Henry Perna during an online business presentation. Disappointed with his treatment by prosecutors, Matthew Perna hanged himself on February 25, 2022.Photo by Jeri Perna
Jeri Perna said her father, Lawrence Perna, was devastated by Matthew's death.
“Matt's father deteriorated right before my eyes and passed away two years after Matt,” said Jeri Perna. “I'll never get over it.”
Lawrence Parna, 68, passed away on July 26, 2024 in Port Charlotte, Florida.
“After Matthew's death, Larry became a prayer warrior for the many unjustly persecuted January 6 defendants,” Jeri Perna wrote in her brother's obituary. “He spoke to several people regularly and texted frequently.
“He would give encouragement and leave their names next to the Bible on his daily prayer list,” she wrote. “He knew the pain of losing a child and didn't want anyone else to go through this heartache.”
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