Reading Between The Lines Of Plea Deals In The Capitol Riot Cases

[Nevilledog]

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Ken Bensinger
@kenbensinger
I read a lot of court documents but until today had never heard of "wiring" a plea deal. Of course I learned about it from @ZoeTillman — a black belt in the art of legal filings. Read her masterly deconstruction of plea agreements here

Reading Between The Lines Of Plea Deals In The Capitol Riot Cases
A judge accepted the 100th guilty plea in the Jan. 6 cases on Wednesday.
buzzfeednews.com
1:30 PM · Oct 13, 2021

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetillman/january-6-plea-deals

WASHINGTON — BuzzFeed News is publishing a database of the hundreds of pages of documents filed in connection with the first 100 guilty pleas in connection with the Capitol riots. A close reading of these materials yields a wealth of information — not just about what the consequences look like for individual rioters who joined the mob that assaulted the Capitol, but also about the status of the larger investigation.

Plea agreements like the 100th one that Jenny Cudd of Texas entered on Wednesday show what charges prosecutors have been willing to drop (or not) in exchange for a plea, and how those decisions lower the amount of prison time a rioter is facing. They detail how much money defendants are being required to pay to cover the cost of the damage to the Capitol — anywhere from $500 to $2,000 apiece — and the fact that defendants are giving the FBI a final look at their phones and online accounts as agents comb digital records for more evidence.

The documents also show what rioters are willing to admit they did, building an uncontested record of how each person contributed to the chaos and violence that day — and what motivated them to join in the attack.

Here’s what we’ve learned from the first 100 plea deals and what to look for as the prosecution effort — which stands at more than 630 federal cases and counting — presses on

*snip*

[hibbing]

1. Wow, 2K!!!!!????? n/t

[Effete Snob]

2. A whole 2000 big ones

Two G's, as we say in the high finance biz. That's twenty Benjamins. A pile of clams. A guy could have a heck of a weekend with that kind of dough.