Federal judge accuses prosecutors of offering lenient plea deals to Capitol riot defendants who committed the 'crime of the century'

• A federal judge ripped the DOJ for offering "petty offense" plea deals to Capitol riot defendants.
• The dichotomy made prosecutors look "almost schizophrenic" in their approach, said Chief Judge Beryl Howell.

A federal judge criticized the Justice Department this week for taking a "muddled approach" toward prosecuting those accused of participating in the deadly January 6 insurrection, Politico reported. Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the federal district court for the District of Columbia also criticized prosecutors for offering "petty offense" plea deals to defendants who she said carried out the "crime of the century."

Howell's comments came during the sentencing hearing for Jack Griffith, a Tennessee resident who pleaded guilty in July to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing inside the Capitol. As part of the plea deal, the government dismissed four other misdemeanor counts against Griffith.

"I'm trying to make sense of the government's position here," Howell said Thursday. She also contrasted the "very strong language" prosecutors used to describe the conduct Capitol defendants engaged in with the relatively lenient plea deals some were offered.

The dichotomy made prosecutors look "almost schizophrenic" in their approach, Howell said, according to Politico and Law & Crime. "No wonder" there's been public confusion about the gravity of the events of January 6, she added.

"The rioters attacking the Capitol on January 6 were not mere trespassers engaging in protected First Amendment conduct or protests," Howell said at the hearing. "They were not merely disorderly, as countless videos show the mob that attacked the Capitol was violent. Everyone participating in the mob contributed to that violence."

"After all that scorching rhetoric ... the government goes on to describe the rioters who got through the police lines and got into the building as 'those who trespassed,'" Howell said. "This was no mere trespass."

Those who stormed the Capitol "are not trespassers, they are criminals," she added. She later said that "the damage to the reputation of our democracy, which is usually held up around the world ... that reputation suffered because of January 6."

"You are not a good guy or a patriot," Howell told Griffith. But she said prosecutors had forced her hand by charging him and others who engaged in similar conduct with "petty offense[s]."

Griffith was sentenced on Thursday to three years probation, 90 days of home confinement, and $500 in restitution. He's one of 18 people connected to Tennessee who were arrested on charges related to the January 6 riot. A total of more than 700 people have been charged in connection to the siege, and the Justice Department estimated that 2,000 to 2,500 people participated in storming the Capitol.

Griffith expressed remorse for his behavior on January 6, calling it "disgraceful."

"My mind used to be muddied, clouded by extremist politics," he said when he pleaded guilty in July. He struck a different tone in January, telling a Fox affiliate in Tennessee, "I'm not a domestic terrorist."

"For all the people slandering, libeling, mislabeling my name, I'm a citizen I had nothing to do with any violence, vandalism, and I love all my fellow citizens," he said, before going on to promote his pro-Trump video game.