(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) In a significant rebuke of the combative prosecutorial campaign the Justice Department has waged against J6 protestors, a U.S. District Court judge this week issued an outright acquittal of a pro-liberty supporter charged in the Capitol melee.
Matthew Martin, an engineer from New Mexico, had admitted to entering the Capitol on Jan. 6 but, he said, only after two police officers waved him into the building.
Basically, Martin was charged with walking through an open door, but the Justice Department sauced up the language, charging him a year ago on four counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, violent entry, and parading in the Capitol building, according to the Associated Press.
Martin, who testified during a two-day bench hearing, said he never saw any violence inside the Capitol and didn’t notice any obstructive barrier to entering an open door through which police were giving passage, reported CBS News.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden acquitted Martin on all counts, citing his calm demeanor while inside the Capitol. The protestor that federal agents had charged with disorderly conduct and “violent entry” seemed neither disorderly or violent, McFadden said.
The judge also cited video evidence that showed police didn’t block Martin from entering the building, and one officer appeared to be waving Martin inside.
That’s a particularly stunning development because “a USCP official CONFIRMED under oath that police let people inside,” noted American Greatness senior writer Julie Kelly.
Martin, who lost his job as a result of the government’s aggressive charging, said he was “very thankful for the judge’s verdict” and was hoping to get his life back together.
The outright acquittal of a J6 protestor, who government agents and the leftist media have consistently portrayed whole cloth as violent insurrectionists, could be a harbinger of rulings to come that obliterates the false narrative.
“The ruling is a blow to the Justice Department and seems likely to elevate similar defenses” of other protestors facing similar charges, reported Politico, noting that the decision could also be seen as a warning that such prosecutions are “unwise.”
Federalist co-founder Sean Davis put it more directly.
“This acknowledgement of reality — that it’s not a crime to walk through a door held open for you by police — is fatal to the corrupt government’s entire J6 narrative,” Davis wrote.
“It’s also why DOJ has criminally abused defendants to force plea deals: DOJ knows its cases are garbage.”
