On Monday we saw, once again, the peaceful transfer of power that marks the most critical tenet of our democracy. Four years ago today, many lawmakers doubted whether that peaceful transfer would occur, as rioters took over the Capitol, leaving leaders from both parties scared for their lives.
More than 1,100 of those convicted have since been sentenced, 667 to incarceration and 145 to home detention. The charges range from minor offenses to severe felony convictions.
NJ Spotlight News spoke with Ron Chen, professor of law and former dean of Rutgers Law School, about the ongoing trials and what could come next.
“They range from relatively low-level offenses, disturbing the peace, to those that involved assault on another person, including law enforcement officers, [who] are much more serious,” Chen said.
“The most serious, and one person who was given a sentence of 22 years, is conspiracy to essentially commit sedition,” he said. “That was the leader of the Proud Boys. So that was obviously a very, very serious sentence.”
President-elect Trump has promised to pardon many of those serving jail time, whom he has called “hostages.” As President, he will have that authority, just as President Biden had the authority to pardon his own son on three felony and six misdemeanor convictions.
Chen explained that there are no legal limitations, but the Justice Department has developed criteria that Presidents often refer to when issuing a pardon.
“There have, over the past 100 years, been developed criteria, you can see them on the Department of Justice website, under the Office of the Partner Attorney, in recommending pardons to the president,” Chen said. “And that is almost always the way that pardons are granted by the President, through the office of the pardon attorney.
“But [Trump] is not limited by that. He can grant a pardon outside of that process, although in the past, usually that has not happened. For instance, among the criteria that is used is acceptance of responsibility, remorse, and atonement.”
New Jersey native and capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, was pepper sprayed on that day, and died a day later. The person who pepper sprayed him was sentenced to 80 months in prison. He could conceivably be among those who would be pardoned. But as a new session of Congress certified the results of President-elect Donald Trump’s 2024 win, it seems that Jan. 6 2021 is far away from the minds of many Americans.
Chen is concerned about how the public, in general, feels about the Department of Justice: “I am concerned that the faith in the integrity of our judicial system has been shaken recently by recent events, and I would want to do everything I can to restore that faith in the justice system if restoration is indeed needed. . . The overall belief in the integrity of the system, I think is a foundation upon which our nation is built.”
