Jan. 6 defendant released from prison after resentencing based on SCOTUS ruling

Some defendants in cases related to the unrest of Jan. 6, 2021, have heralded the November election of Donald Trump as a potentially pivotal event in terms of their cases, but for others, the U.S. Supreme Court has already provided the helping hand they needed to secure freedom.

As the Epoch Times reports, Brian Mock, a Minnesota Jan. 6 defendant convicted on a charge of obstructing an official proceeding, recently saw his guilty finding vacated and his prison term brought to an early end last week.

Resentencing leads to freedom

Judge James Boasberg found Mock guilty on 11 counts, which included a range of offenses, all related to his role in the Jan. 6 demonstrations at the U.S. Capitol.

Prosecutors in the case sought a sentence of nine years in prison, citing video footage depicting Mock's involvement in an assault of officers who were on the scene.

However, Boasberg handed down a sentence of 33 months, a decision that was followed by an appeal.

It was after Mock initiated the appeals process that the U.S. Supreme Court in an unrelated case restricted the manner in which federal prosecutors could utilize an existing statute barring the obstruction of official proceedings, one which had erroneously been used to convict in this instance.

After the high court ruling, the appeals court vacated Mock's conviction on that particular count and sent the case back to its original judge for resentencing, whereupon the defendant was sentenced to time served.

Sentence reduction granted

Federal prosecutors resisted Mock's attempt to have his sentence substantially reduced, writing in a brief that at his original sentencing, “the Court varied downward, assessing a sentence it believed was fair and just under the circumstances.”

The brief continued, “While the government's initial recommendation diverged from that result, the Court's sentence nonetheless took into account the gravity of the crimes and the history and characteristics of the defendant. At resentencing, none of those factors have changed. Indeed, the Court's 33-month sentence is still well below the now governing guidelines, and an additional reduction is simply unwarranted.”

In support of the downward adjustment, Mock's lawyers indicated that he has been an exemplary inmate since entering prison.

Mock has also recently received a positive result on a cancer screening, further justifying a degree of leniency, according to his attorneys.

Whether similar outcomes are in the offing for even more Jan. 6 defendants originally – and wrongly – charged under the aforementioned obstruction statute, or if some will instead have to wait on a clemency decision from President-elect Donald Trump, only time will tell.