Capitol rioter who texted about putting a bullet in Pelosi’s head is jailed
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A Capitol rioter who sent text messages about putting a bullet in the head of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been jailed.
The North Carolina man went to Washington DC on 6 January, bringing guns and ammunition and texted about “putting a bullet” in the speaker’s “noggin” on 7 January, was sentenced to serve 28 months in prison on Tuesday.
After having car issues, Cleveland Meredith Jr arrived in DC too late to attend the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the attack on Congress. He sent threatening texts to family and friends both on 6 and 7 January.
“Thinking about heading over to Pelosi C**T’s speech and putting a bullet in her noggin on Live TV,” he wrote on 7 January.
US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said that threats to legislators, executive branch members, judges, and the media were increasing. She added that even some public officials “think nothing of calling for someone’s head if they disagree with them”.
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She said it wasn’t enough for someone like Meredith to claim that they were joking or not planning on taking action on their threats.
“That is the most tired and hollow excuse and this sentence needs to clearly express that these kinds of statements cannot be shrugged off,” Judge Jackson said. “They cannot be erased by adding ‘LOL’ at the end.”
The judge reiterated her previous criticism that former President Donald Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen had been “amplified” and, “worse” – that it’s now “heresy” for Republicans to openly disagree with those false claims, Buzzfeed News reported.
She said it had to be made “crystal clear” that threatening lawmakers from another party and intimidating people “at the behest” of someone who lost an election isn’t patriotic and doesn’t qualify as “standing up for America”.
“It is the definition of tyranny and authoritarianism” regardless of whether the people responding to the call take it seriously, the judge said.
“I can’t just say, ‘Okay, Mr Meredith, you can go home now’,” Judge Jackson added. He was arrested at his DC hotel after a relative who Meredith had shared the Pelosi threat with told Meredith’s mother, who reported it to the FBI.
When he was arrested, he had an assault rifle with a telescopic sight, a semiautomatic gun, more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition, and several high-capacity magazines. He’ll be credited the 11 months he has already spent in jail and will spend three years on supervised release after serving his sentence.
Defence lawyer Paul Kiyonaga argued that his client was “a lot of talk”, called his threat “bulls***”, and said he had legitimate reasons for carrying weapons – he had used the guns recreationally during a Colorado trip and wanted protection in the case of “social unrest”. This didn’t convince the judge because Meredith was carrying an “arsenal” of firearms.
Assistant US Attorney Anthony Franks noted that Meredith had sent other messages, including one saying that he would surround and “slowly constrict” DC and also threatening to shoot DC Mayor Muriel Bowser as well as “burn DC to the FKG ground”.
When the insurrection was taking place, a friend texted Meredith: “I think Trump wants you to go home peacefully!!”
“Bulls***, he wants HEADS and I’m gonna deliver,” Meredith responded.
“Strategizing on best way to assault this city ... do I go in fast on Sportbike or do I go in the back door on dirt bike,” he wrote on 7 January when asked if he would be home that night. “Staying one more day since I got here late, need to FK with these commies.”
Mr Kiyonaga said his client had been “plagued” by a “deepening sense of lack of purpose” and that he was suffering from a mostly untreated mental illness in the time leading up to 6 January.
The attorney said Meredith had found purpose in the shared false beliefs of followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory and that the insurrection was a “vindication” of what he believed.
He said the messages were “rapid-fire,” and “let your hair down” texts.
Judge Jackson rejected comparisons to other defendants who had made threats, saying that Meredith’s weapons made him stand out. The defendant told the judge towards the end of the hearing that he had “no intention” of acting on his threats. He said his messages were “political hyperbole that was too hyper”. He apologised to Ms Pelosi, her family and he was at times audibly tearful during the hearing.
“The bounds of decency and the bounds of the law have not changed one bit and they need to be enforced,” Judge Jackson said ahead of the sentence announcement.
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