Judge Calls Jail ‘Essential,’ Give James Little 60 Days

Image via FBI court records

A federal judge sentenced a North Carolina man who texted friends and family and rioted with accomplices while inside the Capitol on January 6 has been sentenced to two months. behind bars, followed by three years of probation.

James “Les” Little, 51, pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor charge of marching, protesting, or photographing a picnic in the Capitol building. He admitted that as he approached the Capitol that day, he saw law enforcement use tear gas on a rioting crowd and told investigators he thought police had Shoot rubber bullets to push people back.

However, despite witnessing the violence with his own eyes, he still entered the building.

Senior Judge of the United States Royce Lambert told Little on Monday that he believes a detention period is “necessary in these circumstances” in relation to January 6, when a mob of Donald Trump Supporters broke through police lines and broke into the Capitol building as Congress tried to certify Joe Biden’s win the 2020 presidential election.

“I believe some prison term is needed in these cases now to reflect the seriousness of the offense, respect for the law and [to] Lambert said.

Lambert, a Ronald Reagan appointee, recalls the decision he made to convict another defendant on 6 January probation only—A clear decision of his regret since that defendant, Anna Morgan-Lloydseems to contradict the statements she made at the sentencing hearing when she interview by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham tomorrow.

“The court doesn’t believe the same won’t happen in the next election cycle and you’ll be on probation for the next election cycle,” Lamberth told Little. “You won’t have court oversight in the next election cycle.”

Lamberth’s sentence exceeded the government’s requirement of 30 days in prison, followed by three years of probation. It also placed strict limits on Little’s social media activity while on probation.

During the sentencing hearing, Little .’s attorney Peter Adolf said that Little should not be sent to prison for walking through the “open doors” of the Capitol.

Adolf said: “Don’t know what’s going on” before walking through the door.

“I can’t agree with that,” Lamberth said, cutting Adolf off. “He knew exactly what was going on… they opened the door because the police were overwhelmed. Don’t misrepresent what happened there.”

Adolf also implied that Little might have an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder that contributed to his decision to storm the Capitol, noting what he described as “awkward” interactions of Little with friends and family members, and what Adolf described as a “child’s sense of fairness” prevented him from accepting what he felt was a general election. system is stolen.

“They didn’t have a name for that in the late ’70s when he was diagnosed” by a child psychologist, Adolf said. “He showed all the signs of those behaviors.”

Adolf, a federal public defender, added that he was not given an expert assessment of Little’s autism spectrum disorder because he could not see the government spending thousands of dollars on sentencing. a small crime.

“Mr. Little is not a child,” said prosecutor Michael James said in response to Adolf’s speculation, adding that there was no record of Little being “autistic” and the pre-sentence report noting that he was “emotionally stable,” other than worried about his pending trial.

“He is not someone who is led blindly [that] he didn’t know what was going on,” James said.

In delivering a prison sentence, followed by probation, or a “split sentence”, Lamberth took a clear stance on a looming legal issues between the DC county judges overseeing the cases on January 6 as to whether such convictions were admissible for misdemeanors.

On Monday, Lamberth signaled that he believes, indeed, the law allows him to do so and will issue a written opinion endorsing that view.

[Images via FBI court filings.]

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