US Marine Busted By Feds & Charged For Breaching Capitol On Jan 6

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A Marine Corp Reserves corporal from New York City has been caught and hit with four misdemeanor criminal charges by federal authorities for participating in the riot at the Capitol in January. The corporal, Jia Liu, was taken in by federal authorities on Friday, although they seemed likely to be allowed to go free ahead of further proceedings, considering they’re not accused of perpetrating violence against other individuals at the Capitol. That’s in contrast to the scores of rioters who are accused of viciously assaulting law enforcement during the attack.

Liu’s charges include “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building,” Law & Crime explains. An FBI agent working the Liu case noted in an affidavit for the court how a wide range of records assisted in Liu’s capture. As the agent put it, “Based on Liu’s passport, driver’s license, and Department of Defense photographs, your affiant [the agent] located Liu on law enforcement body camera footage outside the U.S. Capitol building, as well as on U.S. Capitol building security camera footage entering the U.S. Capitol.” At one point, Liu entered the Capitol by climbing through a broken window.

Liu is far from alone in having used a broken window to access the inside of the Capitol that day. Did these people think that they’d be able to climb through broken windows at the Capitol building and then just… not face consequences? What about the people who assaulted officers? What did they think was going to happen? As for Liu, the charge of illegally parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building comes with a maximum sentence of six months in prison. That particular charge has often made it into plea agreements with defendants who opted to admit to their crimes, and defendants pleading guilty to it have faced sentences of varying lengths within the guidelines. Felony offenses, of course, carry the potential of much more prison time for defendants.