The Crimes Clearly Defined

There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined.
-- Albert Camus

Following up on the local aspects of the January 6th Insurrection here among the Tampa Bay denizens. A jury convicted a man involved with the riot on charges related to his involvement on Capitol Hill (via Dan Sullivan at the Tampa Bay Times (paywall)): 

Jeremy Brown, a former U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant linked to the Jan. 6 insurrection, was found guilty Monday on six of 10 federal criminal charges related to weapons and classified information that authorities found in his Tampa home.

After a weeklong trial, a jury of six men and six women deliberated about five hours Monday afternoon before deciding that Brown was guilty of illegally possessing two guns, a pair of hand grenades and a single classified document related to the search for a formerly missing soldier in Afghanistan.

But the panel also found Brown not guilty of possessing four other documents related to national defense, which federal agents found on a CD inside his girlfriend’s recreational vehicle...

I do wonder if the federal prosecutors will now go after the girlfriend for those classified docs in her RV, or did she turn state's evidence already...? Anywho:

Federal agents found the illegal items last year during a search of Brown’s property amid a probe into his connection to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol.

He’s accused in a separate case in Washington, D.C., of being among the rioters who disrupted certification of the 2020 election results, though Brown is not accused of actually entering the Capitol building.

Brown didn’t deny that the sawed-off shotgun and the short-barreled rifle that agents found at his home were his. The guns were not registered in a federal database, as required by law.

But his attorney, Roger Futerman, argued to the jury that most of the other items — including the grenades and a CD with a red label marked “secret” which contained documents detailing military activities in Afghanistan — were planted by federal agents.

The defense lawyer pointed to forensic evidence that showed DNA on the hand grenades came from someone other than Brown. He also highlighted a number of peculiarities in the way agents conducted and documented the search. Most notably: they turned off Brown’s home security cameras upon entering.

“The evidence was manipulated and planted,” Futerman said. “I can’t tell you when it was planted or who planted it. But the forensics don’t lie.”

Futerman also asserted that for Brown to be guilty of possessing classified material related to national defense, there would have to be proof that he had a “bad purpose” for the material...

Having followed the classified documents scandal involving trump at Mar-A-Lago (and now arguably other unsecured places), I've seen that argument Futerman makes, and that it's already been debunked. The government doesn't have to prove "bad purpose" regarding classified documents, all they have to prove is that you SHOULD NOT HAVE THOSE DOCS IN THE FIRST PLACE, and it's looking like the jury understood that.

Arguing that the feds planted evidence is always a legal defense, but without actual proof of the frame-up what the hell else could Futerman claim? Brown confessed to having illegal firearms anyway, why would the feds throw in (metaphorically) a bunch of illegal grenades and (not-so-metaphorically) classified documents? If they were trying to frame Brown with relation to his January 6th actions, why didn't the feds set up more "fake evidence" tying him to that in order to create a "stronger case" on the insurrection charges Brown will face later in DC?

The jury had to consider the conspiracy angles that Futerman was selling them, and refused to buy what he was offering. The simplest explanation after all - that Brown was caught red-handed by the people investigating him for crimes elsewhere - is usually the correct one.

Brown is, by the by, one of hundreds - as of this week, there are 465 rioters who've already plead guilty, out of 960 charged (so far), and by my count about 12 convicted by juries - tied into trump's insurrection effort that have faced the music (also known as "fucked around, found out"). There were roughly 2000 people present at the break-in to the Capitol building, although not all of them have faced legal consequences so far. The Justice Department seems to be focusing on the more violent ones, the rioters who actively attempted to interfere with the Electoral College count and the confirmation of Joe Biden's Presidential win.

trump's insurrectionists can whine and claim they're being framed all they want. But we all witnessed what happened that January 6th. Their crimes are clearly defined. It's now a question of them paying for what they've broken.