90 Miles From Tyranny

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Visage à trois #1945

Three Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure:

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Quick Hits Of Wisdom, Knowledge And Snark #1500

Meet The J6 Defendant Standing Up Against A DOJ Bent On Collecting Heads

‘It was almost like an open show of my arrest all the way down the street,’ he said. That was the point.

Stewart Parks has been marked by the left as an “insurrectionist” for, among other things, being in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 

The 31-year-old Nashville man faces eight months in federal prison. He was sentenced last month by an Obama-appointed U.S. district court judge, who, according to Parks, helped the prosecution work out its case against him during the trial. 

It could have been worse. Parks will avoid a multi-year prison term by serving his sentences concurrently. He’s supposed to turn himself in sometime in February. A surrender date has not been finalized.

Parks is appealing the five misdemeanor convictions against him. He says he’s no insurrectionist and he’s prepared to exhaust his legal remedies to prove it. The real-estate professional with no prior criminal record asserts the government is collecting heads to send a clear message that some political protests won’t be tolerated. 

“If you think about it, my house was raided and I was arrested on June 3, 2021, so I’ve been on a form of probation since that day,” Parks said in a recent interview on “The Vicki McKenna Show.” “I could have had four or five years if they had done it consecutively. These punishments are just way too harsh for a crime that wasn’t committed.” 

‘Peacefully Present’ 

There’s no doubt Parks was at the U.S. Capitol — along with thousands of others — on Jan. 6, 2021. He was there to protest what he believes was a rigged election — stolen from Republican President Donald Trump for Democrat Joe Biden. Trump declared as much. So did a lot of attorneys, politicians, and so-called “election deniers” across the country.

Parks recalls the day as “festive,” the grounds filled with families, the kind of people “you would invite to your wedding.” He was joined by demonstrators from all walks of life: lawyers, doctors, politicians, blue-collar workers. They were “peacefully present … to attend a peaceful event.” 

Parks said the protests where he and others entered the Capitol appeared mostly peaceful. It was a different story elsewhere on the grounds, where rioters were turning the election demonstration violent.

Parks said cellular service was slow, so many of the protesters had no idea that the demonstrations had been canceled. He said he followed the crowds to the Capitol. 

“When we go there, the police had their hands in their pockets. They weren’t scared, they weren’t showing any signs of trembling or showing any signs of stopping [us],” he recalled. “There was no point on Jan. 6 where the police said, ‘No, get out, you don’t belong here.’”

Parks’ accounts certainly differ from the testimony of law enforcement and the politically driven congressional committee that looked into the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The committee has pushed a narrative of an organized right-wing conspiracy to defy the results of the 2020 election and overthrow the government. In short, an insurrection.  

Parks attended the protest with his friend Matthew Baggott of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Baggot was originally charged alongside Parks. In the summer of 2022, Baggott took a plea deal and was sentenced to three months in prison, one year of supervised release, 60 hours of community service, and an order to pay $500 in restitution.

Federal prosecutors argued Baggott acted aggressively as he, Parks, and several others “stormed the Capitol building.” 

Parks, like Baggott, was charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing within any of the Capitol buildings.

Parks also was charged with theft of government property, for picking up a metal detector wand and walking around with it for a while.

According to the criminal complaint, an unidentified (the name is redacted) special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Memphis Field Office investigated Parks. The agent was — and may still be — assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force that investigates domestic and international terrorism acts. An official with the Memphis Field Office did not return a call seeking comment. Much of the evidence in the case was brought by “several” unidentified witnesses who observed posts on Parks’ Instagram account.

“Video surveillance footage from inside the Capitol building shows PARKS and BAGGOTT entering the Capitol building at approximately 2:13 p.m. on January 6, 2021. PARKS and BAGGOTT move throughout the Capitol building for approximately a half hour, until approximately 2:46 p.m. when they exited the building. During that time, PARKS and BAGGOTT generally remain together, with PARKS carrying yellow Gadsden flag, often with PARKS holding onto BAGGOTT’s backpack…” the complaint states.

But Parks, like many others at the Capitol that day, claims police let him in.

‘Working with the Prosecutors’

D.C. Circuit Court Judge Amit P. Mehta, who has presided over several trials related to the J6 Capitol riots, didn’t care for Parks’ version of the day, particularly his claims of his peaceful involvement. 

“He was so angry, his countenance changed during my testimony,” Parks said, “and then, when he handed me my verdict, screamed, berated, and then stormed out of the courtroom at the end of my bench trial.” 

Parks claims Mehta was “working with the prosecutors,” helping them when they bungled through parts of their case.

“He colluded, he coached, he blatantly sided and was open-armed with the prosecution,” he told The Star News Network, calling his bench trial a completely one-sided affair.

An official with Mehta’s office said the judge does not comment on cases before him. 

Parks’ attorney, public defender John Machado, declined to comment for the record.

Prosecutors particularly pressed claims that Parks stole the metal detector wand while he was in the Capitol. They accused him of having no respect for law enforcement.  

The complaint states that at approximately 2:45 p.m. that day, “Parks picks up a hand-held metal detector wand from a table and then puts it back. Approximately 20 seconds later, as more people are exiting the building, PARKS picks the wand up again and exits with it.”

But Parks said he didn’t steal the wand. He left it in the Capitol. Prosecutors acknowledge that the wand was not missing. Yet, they tried to make Parks pay for a metal detector that was not stolen. The judge ruled...