Judge Finds Man Not Guilty in First Jan. 6 Acquittal

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/politics/matthew-martin-capitol-
acquittal.html

By Alan Feuer
Published April 6, 2022
Updated April 7, 2022, 12:08 a.m. ET

A federal judge decided on Wednesday that a former government contractor
from New Mexico who claimed that the police let him into the Capitol
during last year’s pro-Trump riot was not guilty of four petty offenses,
the first acquittal connected to the sprawling investigation of the
attack.

At a two-day bench trial in Federal District Court in Washington, the
defendant, Matthew Martin, admitted that he went into the Capitol on Jan.
6, 2021, along with hundreds of other supporters of President Donald J.
Trump. But he claimed that he had not broken the law because two Capitol
Police officers had waved him in through a door.

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Martin was aware that he had entered the
building illegally given that signs of the riot were clearly apparent all
around him, including tear gas and alarms going off.

Ruling in favor of the defense, Judge Trevor N. McFadden said he found it
plausible that Mr. Martin believed the police had let him in and thus had
not knowingly gone into the building improperly. Judge McFadden acquitted
Mr. Martin of four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted
building; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building;
violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parading,
demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Other judges are not bound by Judge McFadden’s analysis of Mr. Martin’s
claims about the police. But in the wake of the acquittal, some defendants
facing low-level charges who might otherwise have entered guilty pleas
could feel emboldened to go to trial and test the government’s cases
against them. More than 200 people have already pleaded guilty to
misdemeanors connected to the riot.

The case of Mr. Martin, who once held a top-secret security clearance as a
private contractor for the Energy Department, was the third connected to
the Capitol attack to go to trial.

In early March, a jury convicted Guy Wesley Reffitt, a member of a Texas
militia group, of obstructing Congress’s certification of the 2020
presidential election by helping to lead an advance against the police
that resulted in the first violent breach of the building.

A few weeks later, at another nonjury trial, Judge McFadden found Couy
Griffin, the founder of a group called Cowboys for Trump, guilty of
trespassing during the riot, but not guilty of a second misdemeanor count
of disorderly conduct.

A former Virginia police officer, Thomas Robertson, is also now on trial
in Washington. He faces charges of obstructing the certification of the
election and interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil
disorder.



--
"LOCKDOWN", left-wing COVID fearmongering. 95% of COVID infections
recover with no after effects.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Donald J. Trump, cheated out of a second term by fraudulent "mail-in"
ballots. Report voter fraud: sf.n...@mail.house.gov

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.