Kentucky resident Shelly Stallings has become one of the latest individuals to be arrested for participating in last year’s attack on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and she is now facing charges that could land her up to 20 years or more in prison if found guilty. Her charges — which were included in a superseding indictment in a case that previously featured two other defendants, including her husband, and now has four co-defendants — include assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and civil disorder, both of which are felony offenses. That specific form of the assault on police charge comes with a potential sentence of up to 20 years in jail if found guilty, and civil disorder carries a potential sentence of up to 8 years — and Stallings’s charges go on from there.
Trump took state secrets. He put your security at risk. Now, responsible media must ask every @housegop member if they are OK with that. If they don’t answer, THEY ARE. https://t.co/OcSBnfkW22
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) February 19, 2022
Interestingly, Peter J. Schwartz — Stallings’s husband — was arrested over a year ago at this point, not long after the riot originally took place. It’s now been over 13 months since the attack on the Capitol, and the continuing stream of arrests indicates how federal prosecutors are not just letting this matter go. According to the Justice Department, “All four defendants [in Stallings’s case] are accused of spraying a chemical irritant, pepper spray, at a line of police officers attempting to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building.” Over 235 individuals among the hundreds and hundreds who have been arrested in connection to the Capitol riot have been specifically accused of assaulting or impeding police in some form, and when Trump offers his attempted excuses for what went on at the Capitol, these hundreds of assaults on law enforcement are among what he and his enablers are sweeping aside — or at least trying to.
"This is absolutely insane, unconscionable, unprecedented. The former president of the United States admitted in a statement that he wanted to overturn a free and fair democratic election to keep himself in power," Tim Miller says about former Pres. Trump.https://t.co/HoQf6sRTHq
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 19, 2022
It’s not a new observation, but the pepper spray that Stallings and the others had indicates how many of these people who showed up at the Capitol that day didn’t just happen to be there: they were, rather, prepared for violence. A father and son from Tennessee who were recently arrested for assaulting police at the Capitol had tactical gear, and others had dangerous weapons: knives, batons, tasers, baseball bats, axes, stolen police shields, guns, and the list continues onward.
Let's not mince words here: Donald Trump attempted to use every government resource available to him to overturn the 2020 election, and has thwarted efforts at every turn that would make those efforts public knowledge. His contempt for our democracy cannot be tolerated.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 19, 2022
This week, federal Judge Amit Mehta ruled that civil litigation against Trump over his incitement of the Capitol riot could proceed — and with that conclusion, Mehta also found that the argument could be made (whether or not it’s proven) that Trump entered into a sort of conspiracy with violent, far-right groups tied to the riot. As the judge put it regarding those violent individuals, it “is reasonable to infer that the President knew that these were militia groups and that they were prepared to partake in violence for him.” Trump “thus plausibly would have known that a call for violence would be carried out by militia groups and other supporters,” as the judge further found.
In his ruling, Judge Mehta says the evidence suggests Trump instructed the Jan. 6 crowd to march on the Capitol, despite knowing it likely included violent elements.
He rejected Trump's claim that he's immune from lawsuits.
He rejected Trump's claim his conduct was protected.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 19, 2022
Featured Image (edited): via Blink o’fanaye on Flickr and available under a Creative Commons License
