Ray Epps, one of the key instigators of violence during the January 6, 2021, protests on Capitol Hill, has walked away from court with a slap on the wrist from the judge.
Instead, suspected FBI plant Epps has been given 12 months probation, $500 in restitution, and 100 hours of community service.
The soft sentence comes after most Jan. 6 defendants have been hit with vastly excessive sentences.
Many peaceful protesters have been hit with long prison sentences, with judges handing out even longer jail terms than prosecutors had even recommended.
But not Ray Epps, the man who was filmed multiple times telling Jan. 6 protesters to escalate their peaceful demonstration and “storm the Capitol.”
Epps, one of the few defendants who was proven to have promoted violence on the day, will spend no time in prison.
According to Epps’ sentencing memorandum, Epps should have served 6 months in jail.
In the sentencing memo, DOJ senior trial counsel Michael Gordon wrote:
“Although Epps engaged in felonious conduct during the riot on January 6, his case includes a variety of distinctive and compelling mitigating factors, which led the government to exercise its prosecutorial discretion and offer Epps a pre-indictment misdemeanor plea resolution.”
Epps’ attorney, Edward Ungvarsky, argued that Epps should serve no jail time.
Ungvarsky claims that “right-wing political dramaturges” resulted in Epps being “attacked, defamed, and vilified.”
According to the sentencing memorandum, Gordon asserted that Epps “has been the target of a false and widespread conspiracy theory that he was an undercover government agent on January 6.”
Other mitigating factors included Epps calling the FBI on Jan. 8, 2021, to explain his actions two days prior.
Further, Gordon listed his cooperation with both the FBI and the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Select Committee
However, the Democrats’ anti-Trump Jan. 6 Committee mysteriously “lost” video evidence of its witness interviews with Epps.
The DOJ also described Epps’s efforts to de-escalate tensions between protesters and the police, a claim that conflicts with publically available video evidence.
“Epps only acted in furtherance of his own misguided belief in the ‘lie’ that the 2020 presidential election had been ‘stolen,'” reads the memorandum.
“However, due to the outrage directed at Epps as a result of that false conspiracy theory, he has been forced to sell his business, move to a different state, and live reclusively.”
As the Epoch Times reports further, Epps’s photo was removed from the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page without explanation.
On September 18, 2023, prosecutors charged Epps with one count of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a petty misdemeanor with a maximum six-month jail term.
On Sept. 21, 2023, Epps pleaded guilty to the charge.
In mere days, the high-profile case was dispatched, a stark contrast to many Jan. 6 prosecutions that have stretched across nearly three years.
Sentencing in the case had been scheduled for December 20, 2023.
However, Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg granted a continuance until 10 a.m. on January 9 at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C.
In his sentencing memo, Ungvarsky said Epps’ intention all along was for “peaceful” protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
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