Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has said that a man who killed someone during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020 should get a lesser sentence because he was “caught up in the fury” when he burned down a pawn shop.
Of course, the move is especially heinous when you consider the harsh charges that January 6 protesters are facing for much less.
Montez Terriel Lee Jr. broke into a Minnesota pawnshop, poured gasoline, and lit it on fire on June 5, 2020.
A 30-year-old man, Oscar Lee Stewart, was found dead in the rubble over two months later.
Lee’s actions were caught on camera.
100 Percent Fed Up reports that “according to court records, one of the videos captures Lee standing in front of the burning shop, saying, ‘F*** this place. We’re gonna burn this b**** to the ground.'”
Instead of facing the typical sentence of 200 months, US Attorney W. Anders Folk recommended less time because of the “motives” behind the arson and killing.
“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,'” the memo stated.
The memo was practically gushing and could have been written by the defense, but went on to point out the unpredictable nature of fires.
“Arson in particular is an inherently dangerous and unpredictable felony offense. The arsonist who sets a building ablaze cannot know the extent of the damage or death he or she will cause—the crime is by its nature chaotic and uncontrollable. Surrounding homes and businesses may be inadvertently destroyed; firefighters, people trapped in buildings, or the arsonist him or herself may be killed,” the memo continued. “In this case, Mr. Stewart paid the cost for Mr. Lee’s flagrantly dangerous disregard for others. Mr. Lee states that he checked the building before he set the fire to make sure no one would be hurt. If true, this is at least some small measure of precaution. But as the evidence makes clear, it was woefully inadequate. Mr. Lee’s check of the building did not save Oscar Stewart’s life; nor would it have been effective in saving the lives of any firefighters had they become trapped; nor would it have saved the lives and property of nearby neighbors if the wind carried the conflagration to their homes.”
The memo said that while some people may have been exploiting the chaos, he did not believe it to be the case with Lee.
“As anyone watching the news worldwide knows, many other people in Minnesota were similarly caught up,” the memo stated. “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.”
The 100 Percent Fed Up report states that “in the conclusion of Lee’s case, instead of the 200+ months that Lee was predicted to serve, the ruling Judge granted a much lighter 120-month term of imprisonment.”
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