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Judge Timothy Kelly: In His Own Words
Before handing down excessive prison sentences while consenting to DOJ's request for "terror enhancement" for Proud Boys, Kelly explained his thinking. Just, wow.
As I explained in my column last week, D.C. federal judges are in the process of turning nonviolent and petty vandalism offenses into crimes of terrorism. These decisions represent a major escalation in the war on terror at Trump supporters and Americans on the political Right in general.
But the mindset of the judges responsible for creating a new long list of terror crimes is something to behold. I sat in Judge Tim Kelly’s courtroom last week as he detailed in a nearly three-hour oral ruling why he was poised to hand down harsh prison sentences for members of the Proud Boys convicted by a D.C. jury of dubious, if not outright laughable, charges such as seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding.
Kelly’s dramatic monologue represented the cherry on top of the sh*t sundae the judge has created in his courtroom over the past few years in this matter. For the most part, the conduct of the defendants before and on January 6 is protected First Amendment speech. Organizing a trip to Washington and using inflammatory language in group chats are not crimes—at least they weren’t until January 6, 2021.
Only one defendant, Dominic Pezzola, directly damaged government property; he used a riot shield to break a window that afternoon. Others walked into the building with police standing by.
Nonetheless, Kelly denied release of the defendants even though they were not charged with assaulting police or bringing weapons to the Capitol; four of the five defendants languished behind bars for nearly two years before the trial began.
Kelly, a Trump appointee and former prosecutor in the same office now handling every January 6 case, acted as a rubber stamp for the DOJ or, as one observer noted to me, another member of the prosecution. Time and again, Kelly sided with the government in withholding from the jury extensive evidence of FBI misconduct and use of informants. Defense attorneys were ordered to “pre-clear” cross examination questions related to FBI informants with prosecutors prior to a government witness taking the stand.
He refused to compel testimony from key FBI informants; Kelly signed off on an order allowing DOJ to cite unindicted individuals as “tools” of the overall conspiracy, a ruling that undoubtedly will be one part of a lengthy appeal.
In fact, it’s hard to point to one instance when Kelly ruled in the defense’s favor. And now Kelly has placed his judicial imprimatur on the DOJ’s attempt to codify fence-shaking as a terror crime punishable by up to ten extra years in jail.
This transcript is lengthy but provides a view into the outlandish thinking of nearly every judge on the D.C. District Court.
Judge Timothy Kelly: In His Own Words
Julie, I reached out to Congress MTG,Matt Gatez, Stefanik,My Congressman Andy Harris,Jack Poso,Mike Davis informed them of the passing of 22 yr old And 2 more who took their lives and said to find it in their hearts to show up to J6 sentencing hearings they have oversight This reign of terror and ending lives must end. I had to do something. We will see
Julie, I know that releasing the video can cause some bad actors to “play with it” and destroy the credibility...but there are incredibly talented people that through an open source develop the true story of the January 6th.
Julie, you are an incredibly influential. Keep screaming from the mountain top and releasing information for us to put public pressure on our elected malfeasance Republicans.