Federal prosecutors are requesting seven and a half years in prison for Texas man David Lee Judd, who participated in the Capitol riot after also helping with Trump campaign work in 2020.
Judd fought with police across a period of several hours in the area of what was evidently the Lower West Terrace tunnel at the Capitol, where some of the more intense physical violence that day was documented. He threw what available evidence indicated was a firecracker at police and joined the rhythmic motions in which rioters in that tunnel engaged, moving their bodies back and forth against cops in an effort to break through. Some of that took place around 30 minutes after rioters first breached the building itself elsewhere — and about an hour and a half later, Judd was physically engaging with police in the same area again as officers sought to secure the premises.
His legal representation wanted to emphasize something different. David “upheld the values of our democracy by registering people to vote and by going door-to-door to try to persuade people to vote for the Republican nominee for the U.S. Presidency, Donald Trump,” his federal public defense said in their own memo to the judge ahead of sentencing. It sounds like he did so through a third-party organization called Stampede America. Judd “traveled to Maine as part of Stampede America, a national political consulting company that provides grass roots canvassing for conservative candidates and causes to campaign for President Trump,” his defense also said. They’re asking for a sentence of time served, with no additional jail-time at all. Judd was convicted of the serious felony charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and assault on police, both of which prosecutors have consistently used in cases originating with the riot.
One of the details of Judd’s case highlighted earlier by The Dallas Morning News exemplifies the direct role Trump had in inciting the violence that took place. On his phone, investigators found screenshots of Twitter posts Trump made raising false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. While some obviously have a better understanding of the kinds of threats that are out there and might be better prepared to respond to something like the Capitol riot taking place again in the future, like if Trump loses the general election in 2024, he’s still posting online in similarly extreme terms. In a recent series of comments on his wannabe Twitter knock-off Truth Social, he threatened that the United States would meet its demise unless, besides any potentially other saving graces for this imagined threat, he regained the White House. “Our Country does not have long to live, or even survive. We better WIN in 2024!” he told his online followers.
DOJ wants 7.5 years in federal prison for Jan. 6 "instigator" David Lee Judd, a former Trump campaign worker they say acted as an "on-the-ground commander" for Capitol rioters, encouraging, coordinating, and directing the mob before trying to set off an explosion in the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/BryIfn7GrW
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 18, 2023
Image: Tyler Merbler/ Creative Commons
