WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President mass pardons for rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol won't change the 鈥渢ruth鈥� about what happened in the nation's capital four years ago, two federal judges separately as they dismissed criminal cases stemming from the attack by a mob of Trump supporters.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said evidence of the is preserved through the 鈥渘eutral lens鈥� of riot videos, trial transcripts, jury verdicts and judicial opinions.
"Those records are immutable and represent the truth, no matter how the events of January 6 are described by those charged or their allies,鈥� she wrote.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over Trump's before its dismissal, said the president's pardons for hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters can't change the 鈥渢ragic truth鈥� about the attack. Chutkan added that her order dismissing the case against an Illinois man into the air during the riot cannot "diminish the heroism of law enforcement officers" who defended the Capitol.
鈥淚t cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake,鈥� . 鈥淎nd it cannot repair the jagged breach in America鈥檚 sacred tradition of peacefully transitioning power.鈥�
Chutkan and Kollar-Kotelly are among over 20 judges to handle the hundreds of cases produced by the largest investigation in the Justice Department's history. Kollar-Kotelly issued her written remarks in an order dismissing the case against , a Georgia man who was among the first group of rioters to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Other judges at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., spoke out against pardons for Capitol rioters before Trump鈥檚 second inauguration on Monday, when the Republican president pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of charges in all of the 1,500-plus Capitol riot criminal cases.
District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump nominee, said in November that handing out blanket pardons to Capitol rioters would be 鈥� ." Nichols expressed his criticism during a hearing at which he agreed to postpone a Jan. 6 riot defendant鈥檚 trial until after Trump's return to the White House.
During a hearing last month, District Judge Amit Mehta said it would be 鈥渇rightening鈥� if is pardoned for orchestrating a violent plot to keep Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election. Rhodes was serving an 18-year sentence when he was released from prison this week.
Box, who was featured in the HBO documentary 鈥淔our Hours at the Capitol,鈥� was found guilty of charges including interfering with police during a civil disorder, a felony. The judge convicted Box last year after a 鈥渟tipulated bench trial,鈥� which meant she decided the case based on facts that both sides agreed to before the trial started.
Box was scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21. More than 130 other convicted rioters were awaiting sentencing when Trump issued pardons.
, 39, of Illinois, was awaiting trial in a Washington jail when Chutkan dismissed charges that he climbed scaffolding outside the Capitol, pulled what appeared to be a gun from his waistband and fired two shots into the air.
鈥淚n hundreds of cases like this one over the past four years, judges in this district have administered justice without fear or favor,鈥� Chutkan wrote. 鈥淭he historical record established by those proceedings must stand, unmoved by political winds, as a testament and as a warning.鈥�
Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,000 of them pleaded guilty. Approximately 250 others were convicted by a judge or jury after trials. Over 1,100 were sentenced, with more than 700 receiving a term of imprisonment ranging from several days to .
Over 130 police officers were injured during the riot. At least four officers who were at the Capitol later died by suicide. And collapsed and died after engaging with the protesters. A medical examiner later determined he died of natural causes.
Kollar-Kotelly said the heroism of officers who defended the Capitol "also cannot be altered or ignored.鈥�
鈥淕rossly outnumbered, those law enforcement officers acted valiantly to protect the Members of Congress, their staff, the Vice President and his family, the integrity of the Capitol grounds, and the Capitol Building-our symbol of liberty and a symbol of democratic rule around the world," she wrote.
President nominated Kollar-Kotelly, who has served on the bench since 1997. President nominated Chutkan, who has served on the same court since 2014.
Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
