If Donald Trump carries through on his primary campaign promise, to pardon the Jan. 6 prisoners, he will be putting hundreds of violent criminals back onto the streets, a report suggests.
The president-elect has signaled that he's willing to grant clemency to at least some of his supporters who breached the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election win, but a HuffPost analysis of sentencing data shows nearly all the inmates serving substantial prison terms committed violent crimes on that day.
“People who will be pardoned will be the violent ones," said former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn, who was among those assaulted. "That’s who’s left to pardon. ... Those who went to jail were the most violent that day."
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Of those serving a year or more in prison, 57 percent were convicted of assaulting a police officer, while 83 percent serving sentences at least that long were convicted of committing an act of violence.
The HuffPost analysis also found that of the 534 completed nonviolent cases, 273 received no jail time, while 138 were sentenced to two months or less, 49 received two to six months, 26 got seven to 12 months, and 48 were sentenced to more than a year for an average sentence of 4.3 months.
The average sentence for 319 completed violent cases was 38 months, and 27 of those defendants got no jail time, 18 received two months or less, 16 received seven to 12 months; and 236 were sentenced to more than a year.
Five of the 184 completed cases of assaulting a police officer received no jail time, one got two months or less, five received two to six months 10 were sentenced to seven to 12 months, and 163 received more than one year, for an average sentence of 44 months.
“Show me a trespasser who’s been sitting in jail for months,” Dunn said. “It doesn’t happen.”
