Insurrectionist sentenced to communtiy service, $500 fine - June 24, 2021

Anna Morgan-Lloyd is a 49-year-old grandmother who owns a hair salon and is a registered Democrat who supported Trump. She pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of "parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building" (as did thousands of Wisconsin protesters in 2011*) The D.C. District Judge #RoyceLamberth ordered
#AnnaMorganLloyd to complete 40 hours of community service, spend 3 years on probation and pay a $500 fine.

Morgan-Lloyd, in asking for probation, wrote in a very HUMBLE letter to Judge Lamberth, "I went there to show support for President Trump peacefully, and I'm ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day ... Trump was standing up for what we believe in. We couldn't argue with it. My husband and I felt that when Democrats worked against him [Trump] they worked against me, my family and my community. It was never my intent to be a part of something that’s so disgraceful to our American people and so disgraceful to our country. I just want to apologize."

Judge Lamberth told Morgan-Lloyd in court, "Probation comes once in a lifetime. This is your once."

Judge Lamberth also castigated Republican lawmakers for downplaying the violence of the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, saying in handing down the first sentence to a charged defendant that those who break the law must pay a penalty: “I’m especially troubled by the accounts of some members of Congress that January 6 was just a day of tourists walking through the Capitol,” he said. “I don’t know what planet they were on. . . . This was not a peaceful demonstration. It was not an accident that it turned violent; it was intended to halt the very functioning of our government.”

The judge also took time to dismiss “conspiracy theories” about FBI informants and address claims that the Capitol defendants are being treated more harshly than Black Lives Matter protesters. He said he couldn’t speak to what happens in state courts, but that Attorney General Merrick Garland has “promised the law will be applied equally . . . whatever the complexion of the demonstrator is.” Lamberth was previously the presiding judge on the FISA court, and is a former federal and U.S. Army prosecutor who is known to be a tough sentencer.

Her defense attorney H. Heather Shaner went to great lengths to show that Morgan-Lloyd deserved leniency. She had her client read books and watch movies about discrimination and share her thoughts with the judge.

The federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Rothstein, did not ask for incarceration, noting that Morgan-Lloyd already spent an “eye-opening” two days in jail. He called probation appropriate because Morgan-Lloyd had no known ties to extremist groups, did not plan to enter the Capitol, stayed inside one hallway for only about 10 minutes and did not commit any violence or destruction while there. She also cooperated with law enforcement and quickly accepted responsibility, the prosecutor said.

A former waitress and General Electric employee, Morgan-Lloyd was born in rural Indiana and married her teenage crush. She graduated from community college, worked for a medical device maker, is a mother to two stepdaughters and helps care for five grandchildren. Raised a Democrat, she supported Trump for president beginning in 2016.

Two defendants have pleaded guilty to more serious felony offenses. Jon Ryan Schaffer, 53, described in court documents as a founding member of the Oath Keepers, is cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of trimming a roughly four-year recommended prison term for obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and trespassing in the Capitol while armed.

* In 2011 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wanted public sector unions to pay more for health insurance, because teacher unions have to cover health insurance for retirees, which can have significant costs, because the eligibility rules of their pension plans often induce them to retire in their 50s, and Medicare does not kick in until age 65.