(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department’s prosecution of Jan. 6 documentarian Stephen Horn was still a flagrant attack on the free press, but at least Horn avoided prison.
A federal judge sentenced Horn on Wednesday to 12 months probation and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine and serve 90 hours community service. Horn was found guilty last September of four misdemeanors stemming from his presence at the Capitol Hill uprising.
The DOJ sought to imprison Horn for 10 months—more than the six-month sentence they sought for Ray Epps, who they admitted engaged in “felonious activity” in stoking the riot that day. But the presiding judge exhibited restraint.
“Judge Kelly recognized the unique factors in my case,” Horn said following the sentencing. “The sentence is lenient for a J6 trial verdict.”
Horn was referencing the fact that by all accounts, he was engaging in purely journalistic activities on Jan. 6. The FBI received a tip from someone that identified Horn as a journalist, and charging documents describe him as acting entirely peacefully.
Headline USA understands there are more than 20 other reporters who, like Horn, entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, but aren’t facing charges. Headline USA reviewed some of their names, but is withholding them so they won’t be targeted, too.
However, the DOJ argued last Wednesday in a sentencing memo that Horn was little different than protestors who committed violence on Jan. 6.
According to the DOJ, him chanting “USA! USA!” with other protestors disqualified him from being considered a journalist—ignoring the fact that undercover officers also chanted “USA!,” along with urging other protestors to “Go! Go! Go!” and to “Keep going! Keep going!” as they entered the Capitol building.
Prior to his jury trial and conviction last September, Horn refused a deal offered by the U.S. government to receive probation in exchange for his guilty plea.
“They wanted me to admit I was there ‘protesting, picketing or demonstrating.’ I was like, ‘Well I can’t really do that because I wasn’t protesting, I wasn’t picketing and I wasn’t parading,’” he told Headline USA in June.
“Obviously, I can’t sign a document saying I did these things when I didn’t.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
