1 week Ago
PORTLAND, Ore. — An Oregon man who stormed the U.S.
Capitol on Jan. 6 has asked to have his sentencing delayed until after the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. The request from Jonathanpeter Klein , 24, of Pendleton was filed by his defense lawyer two days after Trump defeated Kamala Harris.
In court papers, Klein’s lawyer argued that the Department of Justice, under different leadership, may have different views on the case. Klein was scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 15.
A federal judge quickly denied the three-month delay proposed by Klein. Instead, Judge Randolph Moss of the U.S.
District Court in Washington D.C. agreed to a two-week extension of the sentencing hearing because the prosecutor went on unexpected leave.
Klein will now be sentenced on Dec. 2, along with his brother. In July, Klein and his brother Matthew Klein, 27, pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the breach of the U.
S. Capitol. According to court documents, the brothers from Oregon traveled to Washington, D.
C., to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Kleins went into the Capitol building through the Senate Wing door, prosecutors alleged. After leaving the building, the brothers joined with a group of other rioters struggling against the police, according to court records. Klein’s federal public defender, Michelle Sweet, did not respond for comment.
Throughout his campaign for president, Trump repeatedly said he would pardon some of the 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection. It’s not clear if he will follow through with those promises.
“A new Attorney General under the Trump administration may take a view that is quite different for these January 6 defendants than the Biden administration’s Justice Department did,” explained Tung Yin, a law professor at Lewis and Clark Law School. Yin suggested Trump may forgo the normally lengthy pardon process and simply issue a blanket order clearing those involved. “He might just come in, on day one and say, ‘I’m just deciding by Executive Order, a pardon for anybody involved in any January 6 crime without going through any of the review process,” explained Yin.
“He could do that and that would be very easy for him to do.”.
