https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mcconnell-doj-lenient-sentence-minnesota-arsonisthttps://www.startribune.com/10-years-in-federal-prison-leniency-for-man-who-set-deadly-pawnshop-fire-during-unrest/600136780/During the George Floyd riots and lawlessness after Mayor Frey and Governor Walz stood down the police, Montez Terriel Lee Jr. filmed himself participating in the riots and setting fire to Max It Pawn Shop, gleefully taking credit for burning it down while standing in front og the blaze. While it was initially reported by witnesses that someone had been locked in the basement as the building burned down, the damage from the riots was so severe that it took three months before enough rubble could be cleared away to find the charred remains of 30 year old Oscar Lee Stewart Jr. After the grim discovery, Montez Lee was charged and later convicted on arson resulting in death, which under federal sentencing guidelines results in a mandatory sentence of 20 years in prison.
At sentencing, however, the federal prosecutor in the case made an argument for a downward departure of only 12 years in prison, on this basis:
https://alphanews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Montez-Lee-Sentencing-Opinion.pdfQuote
The Guidelines state that departure below this range is not ordinarily appropriate.
However this is an extraordinary case. The United States therefore seeks a downward
variance, and a sentence of 144 months.
Mr. Lee’s motive for setting the fire is a foremost issue. Mr. Lee credibly states that
he was in the streets to protest unlawful police violence against black men, and there is no
basis to disbelieve this statement. Mr. Lee, appropriately, acknowledges that he “could
have demonstrated in a different way,” but that he was “caught up in the fury of the mob
after living as a black man watching his peers suffer at the hands of police.” (PSR ¶ 13.)
As anyone watching the news world-wide knows, many other people in Minnesota were
similarly caught up. There appear to have been many people in those days looking only to
exploit the chaos and disorder in the interests of personal gain or random violence. There
appear also to have been many people who felt angry, frustrated, and disenfranchised, and
who were attempting, in many cases in an unacceptably reckless and dangerous manner, to
give voice to those feelings. Mr. Lee appears to be squarely in this latter category. And
even the great American advocate for non-violence and social justice, Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., stated in an interview with CBC’s Mike Wallace in 1966 that “we’ve got to see
that a riot is the language of the unheard.” Lily Rothman, What Martin Luther King Jr
Really Thought About Riots, Time Magazine (2015),
https://time.com/3838515.....
The raised fist Mr. Lee showed, and his brazenness in committing the crime (see Fig.
2, supra) is telling. Mr. Lee was terribly misguided, and his actions had tragic, unthinkable
consequences. But he appears to have believed that he was, in Dr. King’s eloquent words,
engaging in “the language of the unheard.”
...
A long sentence does not appear necessary to deter Mr.
Lee from future crime. General deterrence likewise seems to be of limited import here.
The events of late May of 2020 were informed by forces that have been present in this
country since its inception. General deterrence appears to be of limited relevance given
the passions and historical forces at work in the crime.
The defense argued for 7.5 years in prison, and Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright gave him only 10 years in prison, a 50% downward departure below the sentencing guideline.
This case has now started to attract some national attention. Former US attorney for Minnesota, Andrew Luger, was appointed by Biden to retake that same position and needs senate confirmation. Today Mitch McConnell threw a wrench into the proceedings and both issued a scathing letter denouncing the Biden DoJ for its explicit endorsement of political violence and placed a hold on the nomination, demanding Luger make a written assurance not to lessen criminal sentences for left-wing political violence;
Quote
"Political violence is a cancer in free societies," McConnell wrote. "To use a parallel example, it would seem almost insane to argue that a criminal who assaulted the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with the explicit intention of obstructing Congress’ constitutional duties, should receive a lesser sentence than somebody else who trespassed on federal property at a different time just because he could.
"I just placed a hold on a nominee for US attorney for Minnesota, because the person recently acting in that job recommended an unusually soft sentence below the maximum guideline to a convicted fatal arsonist because the arsonist was taking part in a far left political riot at the time," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
"I’ll need written assurances the nominee to succeed this person will not continue this jaw-dropping practice and lessen criminal sentences so long as the political violence they commit happens to be left wing," McConnell said.
Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley also wrote letters to Merrick Garland demanding answers.
So, compare the treatment of this murderer to that of the January 6th rioters by the Biden justice department. The only homicide at the January 6th riots was the woman who died at the hands of capitol police, yet its become the largest investigation and mass prosecution in the history of the country. But despite George Floyd rioters burning down the city, committing multiple murders and nearly getting hundreds of people turned to pancakes on I35, the Biden DoJ has responded by excusing this violence for its political motive, explicitly stating that left-wing political animus is a mitigating factor at sentencing. It is the position of Merrick Garland's DoJ that if you commit a murder in the name of George Floyd, you aren't as guilty as someone who commits a normal murder- or someone who jaywalks in the name of Trump