A Texas couple who said they were assaulted by police while praying on Jan. 6 faces felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from their presence outside the U.S. Capitol during the protests and ensuing riot. On October 22, he was sentenced to several years in prison.
Mark Fulton Middleton, 54, and Jarise Kay Middleton, 54, of Forestburg, Texas, asked U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss to sentence them to home detention and probation. However, the U.S. Department of Justice had asked for a sentence of 7.25 years in prison. each.
Judge Moss sentenced Mark Middleton to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, while Jarise Middleton was sentenced to 20 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
In February, the Middletons were found by a Washington, D.C., jury to be guilty of assault, resisting, obstructing two police officers, insurrection, entering and remaining in any restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct, physical assault, and He was found guilty of assault. a few others Related misdemeanors.
“The officer pulled her scarf and was choking her.”
The conviction for a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding was thrown out in September by a June 2024 Supreme Court ruling. Fisher v. United States. This opinion significantly limits the use of the accounting fraud statute (18 U.S.C. §1512(c)(2)) to prosecute cases that do not involve documents or other evidence. This was the most widely charged felony in the Jan. 6 incident.
At the heart of the Middletons' case was an incident that took place on January 6th at around 2:10 p.m. at a police line in the West Square of Parliament House. A large crowd gathered on the north side of the square and pushed into a bicycle rack used by police. suppress the demonstrators.
Security video from the Capitol Police showed police on the Western Front seizing explosives and setting off other projectiles into the crowd for more than an hour. About a minute before the Middletons tangled with police, a grenade exploded deep in the crowd, killing six people, according to security video. Tear gas swirled in the strong wind.
The Middletons claim they would not have come into contact with police if police had not taken the bike rack barricade and forced it onto the protesters. Prosecutors said the couple tried to throw themselves at the police line, but the defense said the Middletons were actually praying, facing each other.
“The video shows that at one point Mrs. Middleton's scarf was pulled by the police officer, and Mr. Middleton testified that he pulled her away from the police line and tried to get the police to release his wife. ”, defense attorney Stephen Brennwald wrote on page 21 of Mark Middleton. Judgment memo.
A Metropolitan Police Department officer throws an incendiary grenade into a crowd at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Nearby, Mark and Harry Middleton were involved in a scuffle with police at a barricade.U.S. Capitol Police surveillance cameras
“That's a natural reaction anyone would have, even if they hadn't been married for decades like the Middletons did,” he said.
Brenwald said there was no question that police began contacting the Middleton family and neighbors.
“Her actions simply arose because she was assaulted in the first place. She was punched by a police officer and then shoved from behind by a large group of violent protesters,” defense attorney Kira West told Jarries.・Written on page 27 of Middleton. Judgment memo.
“As the officer was pulling her scarf and choking her, Ms. Middleton, sensing that she was about to die suddenly, randomly struck the officer to escape,” West said.
Prosecutors took a gloomy view of the five- to seven-second collision.
“Mark Middleton heckled police officers while shouting obscenities,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean McCauley and Brendan Barrow wrote on page 47. Supplemental Sentencing Memo. “The Middletons then threw their bodies together into the barricade. When the officers attempted to repair the barricade and ordered them to return, the Middletons assaulted both officers.”
“I felt like I had a responsibility to make my voice heard and make a difference.”
Prosecutors cited the Middletons' political speeches from January 6 and accused them of “spreading falsehoods.”
“Mark Middleton has used his Twitter account to promote the conviction of the January 6th rioters at least daily, if not almost hourly, and to promote the 2020 presidential election. and spread conspiracy theories about January 6th and unsubstantiated lies about January 6th,” prosecutors wrote.
The Justice Department said the Middletons bragged about their actions on social media and lied under oath during the trial.
“They used the notoriety of their crimes to raise funds and seek personal gain from the fame,” the Justice Department wrote.
Ms. West rejected claims that her client lied at trial.
“MS. Ms. Middleton did not make any false statements during her testimony. Her testimony is consistent with the video evidence in this case and the testimony and videos from other J6 trials,” West wrote.
West said the Middletons have the right to exercise their freedom of speech regarding their concerns about the 2020 presidential election.
“When this court considers all of the factors, it finds that these were not the acts of someone intent on overthrowing the government or inciting violence, but rather the acts of a concerned citizen who believed the election had been stolen. We have to conclude,” West said.
Mark and Jarise Middleton of Forestburg, Texas, assaulted police on January 6, 2021, as prosecutors allege, or assaulted Jarise Middleton, as defense attorneys claim, on January 6, 2021. She defended herself by pulling her scarf too hard.
Photo provided by: Metropolitan Police Department Body Cam
in him Judgment memo Regarding Mark Middleton, Mr Brenwald suggested that the Middleton family “should have been there in the first place” or that police “didn't have the right to somehow move the crowd from the area”. He said that he did not have any
“However, the aggressiveness displayed by the police in this incident was not the best example of police conduct, inflamed the passions of the crowd and ultimately had the opposite effect,” he wrote.
In an October 19 letter to Judge Moss, Jarise Middleton said she was in fight-or-flight mode when the incident occurred.
“I felt a responsibility to have my voice heard and to make a difference,” she wrote of her decision to come to Washington, D.C. My only job that day was to pray and stand firm. In the chaos that quickly ensued, I forgot to trust him. ”
“Furthermore, I truly believe that my actions that day were consistent with what someone in our position would have taken,” Jaylies Middleton wrote.
The FBI seized Yaris Middleton's wedding ring while executing a search warrant at the couple's home. Then the agent took it away. The Middletons married in May 1990.
“Wouldn't a photo be enough?” West asked. “Apparently not.”
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