周四，一名联邦法官直接斥责了共和党全国委员会宣布1月6日美国国会大厦骚乱为“合法政治言论”的决议她判处一名在袭击中殴打两名警察的男子6个月监禁。
华盛顿特区地方法官艾米·伯曼·杰克逊(Amy Berman Jackson)在判决华盛顿州残疾的前海军陆战队员马克·莱芬格韦尔(Mark Leffingwell)之前表示:“这不是‘合法的政治言论’，按照失望的候选人的指示，到国会大厦来破坏选举进程，也是不合理的。“用炫耀的力量抵消其他人的选票，这与美国的主张背道而驰。”
52岁的勒芬格韦尔在伊拉克的陆军国民警卫队服役期间遭受了创伤性脑损伤，除了入狱之外，他还面临两年缓刑、2000美元的赔偿费用和200小时的社区服务。10月，他承认袭击、抵抗或阻碍警察。
塞缪尔·科伦/盖蒂图像，文件
支持特朗普的支持者在与总统唐纳德·特鲁举行集会后席卷了美国国会大厦...
检察官说，莱芬格韦尔从他在西雅图的家飞到费城，和一个朋友开车去参加时任总统唐纳德·特朗普1月6日在椭圆广场的集会。他们说，他在国会大厦袭击开始大约一个小时后加入了袭击，调查人员援引视频显示，他站在参议院西翼台阶上的一大群人面前，就在大楼内，警察在他面前形成了一道保护线。
他大喊“停止偷窃!、“丢人!”和“加入我们!”检察官对警官说。
他们说，当一些人群在警官的指示下开始后退时，仍然站在人群前面的勒芬格韦尔喊道:“如果你后退，你就永远回不去了!”根据法庭记录，警察开始向人群施压，然后他打了两名警察的头。
他当场被捕，是骚乱过程中被拘留的少数暴徒之一。
联邦检察官建议对严重伤害罪判处27个月徒刑。在大约30分钟的时间里，杰克逊法官和律师们讨论了“严重袭击”一词是否适用于莱芬格韦尔的案件。如果是这样的话，那就意味着他犯了重罪，并打算再犯一项重罪。
杰克逊法官说，她考虑到了莱芬格韦尔的创伤性脑损伤，以及他没有其他犯罪史。她说，在宣判六个月的刑期时，她也考虑到了他的两个儿子。
但在发人深省和广泛的评论中，杰克逊说，有必要阻止潜在的骚乱者像莱芬格韦尔那样做。
“让你愤怒并把你带到华盛顿特区的激烈言辞并没有平息，”杰克逊说。“选举被盗和不合法的谎言仍在继续。事实上，它不仅在社交媒体上，而且在主流新闻媒体上被放大了，更糟糕的是，前总统的政党成员不这么说已经成为异端邪说。所以，需要非常清楚，这不是爱国主义。它没有为美国挺身而出。”
在法庭上的一份简短声明中，勒芬格韦尔表达了悔意。
“我希望我能回到过去，让它不再发生，”他说。
他的几个朋友和家人写信给法官，称他“考虑周到”，是一个“诚实善良的美国人”，同时描述了强烈的职业道德。
检察官说，他有正确的判断，尽管他有创伤性脑损伤，但他对自己的行为负责。一名政府律师说，当他遇到警察时，“他非常清楚自己在做什么”。
“那些信告诉了你所有这些，”一名助理美国律师说。“尽管他受过伤，但他明辨是非。”
Judge rebukes RNC's 'legitimate political discourse' language at Jan. 6 sentencing
A federal judge on Thursday directly rebuked the Republican National Committee'sresolution that declared the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol "legitimate political discourse"as she sentenced a man convicted of punching two officers during the assault to six months in prison.
"It is not 'legitimate political discourse,' and it is not justified to descend on the nation's Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process," said D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson before she sentenced Mark Leffingwell, a disabled former Marine from Washington state. "Cancelling out the votes of other people with a show force is the opposite of what America stands for."
On top of his jail time, Leffingwell, 52, who suffered a traumatic brain injury while serving in the Army National Guard in Iraq, also faces two years probation, $2,000 in restitution charges and 200 hours of community service. He pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers in October.
Prosecutors said Leffingwell flew from his Seattle home to Philadelphia and drove with a friend to attend then-President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse. He joined the assault on the Capitol about an hour after it had started, they said, and investigators cited videos showing him standing at the front of a large crowd on the Senate West Wing steps, just inside the building, where police officers formed a protective line in front of him.
He yelled "Stop the steal!," "Shame!" and "Join us!" at the officers, prosecutors said.
They said while some of the crowd began to back up at the instruction of officers, Leffingwell, still at the front of the crowd, shouted "If you back up, you'll never get back in!" Officers began pressing the crowd, per court records, and he then punched two officers in the head.
He was arrested on the spot, one of few rioters taken into custody during the course of the riot.
Federal prosecutors recommended a 27-month sentence for aggravated assault. For about 30 minutes, Judge Jackson and the attorneys deliberated over whether the term "aggravated assault" applied in Leffingwell's case. If so, it would mean he committed a felony with the intent to commit another felony.
Judge Jackson said she took into account Leffingwell's traumatic brain injury, along with his having no other criminal history. She said she also took into account his two sons when handing down the six-month sentence.
But in sobering and extensive remarks, Jackson said there was a need to deter would-be rioters from doing the same as Leffingwell did.
"The heated rhetoric that got you riled up and brought you to Washington D.C. has not subsided," Jackson said. "The lie that the election was stolen and illegitimate is still being perpetrated. Indeed, it is being amplified, not only on social media, but on mainstream news outlets, and worse, it's become heresy for a member of the former president's party to say otherwise. So, it needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism. It is not standing up for America."
In a brief statement to the court, Leffingwell expressed remorse.
"I wish I could go back and make it not happen," he said.
Several of his friends and family wrote letters to the judge, calling him "thoughtful" and an "honest and good American" while describing a strong work ethic.
Prosecutors said he had sound judgment and that he was responsible for his actions, despite his traumatic brain injury. When he encountered the police, "he knew very much what he was doing," a government lawyer said.
"Those letters tell you all of that," said an assistant U.S. attorney. "Despite the injuries that he's suffered, he knows right from wrong."
