Notable education efforts prior to sentencing of minor participant in Capitol riot (who seems likely to get probation)

This local article, headlined "Indiana woman to plead guilty in Capitol riot wrote reports on 'Schindler's List,' more," provides the interesting backstory leading up the scheduled sentencing of one person prosecuted for involvement in the Capitol riot on January 6. Here are some details:

A Bloomfield woman will plead guilty this week for her role in the U.S. Capitol riot after appealing to the court that she has learned from her participation from movies and books such as "Schindler's List" and "Just Mercy."  Anna Morgan-Lloyd has agreed to plead guilty to one of her pending federal charges in the Jan. 6 insurrection in exchange for three years probation, $500 in restitution and community service.

The 49-year-old attended what initially began as a rally with her friend Dona Sue Bissey — also federally charged in the riot.  Bissey, whose case is still pending, is scheduled to appear in court July 19.

In a letter to the judge, Morgan-Lloyd apologized for entering the U.S. Capitol and said she feels “ashamed” about how the march that day turned violent.  She attached movie and book reports to her letter, summarizing “Schindler’s List” and “Just Mercy.” Her attorney recommended them, she said, to learn “what life is like for others in our country.”...

Bissey and Morgan-Lloyd referred to Jan. 6 as the “most exciting day” of their lives in Facebook posts, tagging one photo inside the Capitol building.  The FBI arrested the two women in late February, making them among six Hoosiers criminally charged in the aftermath of the insurrection.

Court records show the Acting U.S. Attorney has agreed to the plea, calling Morgan-Lloyd’s participation a serious violation of the law, but noted she did not engage in physical violence or destroy government property.  “To be clear, what the Defendant initially described as “the most exciting day of (her) life” was, in fact, a tragic day for our nation — a day of riotous violence, collective destruction, and criminal conduct by a frenzied and lawless mob,” Acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips wrote in court records.

The U.S. listed Morgan-Lloyd’s apparent remorse, no prior criminal history and cooperation with law enforcement after her arrest as some of the reasons for the government’s acceptance of the plea agreement.

This extended HuffPost piece, headlined "A Lawyer For Jan. 6 Defendants Is Giving Her Clients Remedial Lessons In American History," provides additional details on this defendant and the valuable efforts of her defense attorney to turn her prosecution into a "teachable moment."  I recommend this piece in full, and here is an excerpt: 

This week, Morgan-Lloyd will become the first of nearly 500 defendants arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to face sentencing. She wants a judge to know she’s changed, and her book report-style filings are meant to illustrate that growth. “I’ve lived a sheltered life and truly haven’t experienced life the way many have,” Morgan-Lloyd wrote to the judge. “I’ve learned that even though we live in a wonderful country things still need to improve. People of all colors should feel as safe as I do to walk down the street.”

The remedial social studies program that Morgan-Lloyd is following was created by her D.C.-based lawyer, H. Heather Shaner....  Shaner is one of many D.C. lawyers assigned to represent Capitol defendants who can’t afford their own attorneys, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and as laid out in the Criminal Justice Act.

In addition to representing her clients in court, Shaner has seized an opportunity to try and educate them on the history their teachers glossed over.  Shaner regularly sends her clients who are incarcerated pretrial books to read: “They’re a captured audience, and it’s life-changing for a lot of them.”  But she decided to take an even more intensive approach with her Capitol clients, who were part of another ugly, historical event in American history.

“Reading books and then watching these shows is like a revelation,” Shaner told HuffPost. “I think that education is a very powerful tool ... So I gave them book lists and shows that they should watch.” In addition to Morgan-Lloyd, Shaner represents Capitol defendants Annie Howell, Jack Jesse Griffith (aka Juan Bibiano), Israel Tutrow and Landon Kenneth Copeland, a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who had a major episode during a virtual hearing in his case and cursed out everyone on the call. (Copeland, who was filmed assaulting officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and is facing the most serious accusations of any of Shaner’s Capitol clients, was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation and remains in custody.)

Shaner said her clients had poor educations and knew very little about the country.  Her two female clients took to the task with zeal, Shaner said, and got library cards for the first time in their lives.  “Both my women are like, ‘I never learned this in school. Why don’t I know about this?’” Shaner said.  (A couple of the male clients weren’t quite as eager students, she said. “The men are very much like ‘Oh, I’ll get to it.’”  But she said some of her male clients have been doing some self-education.)

Here are some links to some of the court filings discussed above:

Government's Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing

Defense's Memorandum in Support of Probationary Sentence

Anna Lloyd Statement (and reports here and here)

Prior related posts:

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