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The Death of Due Process

Published in Blog on March 24, 2022 by Jonna Hoppes

On January 25, 2022, in the middle of a blizzard, an FBI swat team entered Brandon Straka’s home, put him in handcuffs and hauled him off to the D.C. jail that was carefully chosen for the January 6th prisoners.

They placed him in a concrete cell with a metal door and informed him that he would be held in solitary confinement for 23-hours-a-day. When Brandon asked when he would see a judge, he was informed that the courts were closed. They didn’t know if they would be open the next day or the following day, but they assured him that, “when the courts open, your case is going to be delayed because of the backlog. It might be next week before you’re able to see a judge.” Then they closed the door and locked it.

One of the unique things about the American judicial system is the guarantee of due process. Brandon Straka was denied due process. For days he sat in that cell waiting to hear the charges against him. His imagination ran wild… were they going to charge him with treason? Terrorism? Would he ever see freedom again?

Brandon Straka never set foot in the Capitol on January 6th.

Let me repeat that: BRANDON STRAKA NEVER SET FOOT IN THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6TH!

He spent a total of eight minutes outside on the opposite side of the Capitol from where rioters broke windows.

He was one of hundreds of demonstrators arrested by the FBI.

Very few, if any, received due process. Some are still rotting in solitary confinement – denied bail, denied visitation from family and friends, denied haircuts, medical care, dental hygiene.

Many are being held on pretrial detention – many charged with the misdemeanor crime of trespass.

Brandon Straka was arrested five days after Joe Biden took the oath as President of the United States and the Democrats took full control of the federal government. The charges against him were vague – “things” he’d done on January 6th.  Who is Brandon Straka? The Walk Away from the Democrat Party guy. The WalkAway Campaign I Patriots Fighting for America I Home

His arrest by the FBI was the beginning of a year-long nightmare fraught with mistruths, misinformation, abuse of legal process and a savage campaign to destroy him.

The negative press attacked him as a domestic terrorist and an insurrectionist. The Washington Post put out a story accusing him of being “a mass influencer who was trying to create civil war.” One story accused him of being complicit in the deaths that occurred on January 6th. Pages and pages of negative stories pop up on Google when you search his name.

Brandon felt betrayed by so many people who could have come to his defense. A few did, but the majority remained silent. He could understand that many might not want to defend someone involved in January 6th but couldn’t understand why those who knew him wouldn’t put out a statement supporting him as a person and calling for judgement to be reserved until all the facts were in. Those few who did come to his defense risked being censored by Big Tech and the legacy media.

“It’s almost impossible to describe how horrible having your voice taken away is and, also, just your ability to defend yourself, particularly at a time when you’re being attacked from every direction, from the media, from the government, from just everywhere, and so many mistruths being put forward and what it really does is open the door where people can, in an unrestrained fashion, basically make up any lies or any stories about you that they want to because it’s open season for attacking your character,” Brandon stated in an interview with Danielle D’Souza Gill for Epoch Times.

Brandon expressed the belief that a lot of politicians in Congress and people in positions of power backed away from defending him because of the Left’s takeover of the narrative very early in the process. They established the narrative of an insurrection with the goal of trying to overthrow the government.

They put forth stories that accused every person who supported conservative values, weather at the Capitol on January 6th or not, of being an insurrectionist. Just the fact that someone was arrested would trigger headlines claiming the individual was a MAGA Insurrectionists Attempting to Overthrow the Government!

Just attending the January 6th rally resulted in people being labeled domestic terrorists.

People in power on the Republican side became afraid to step up and point out the irrational arguments behind the narrative. They abandoned their oath to protect the Constitution, to protect the people. The narrative quickly spun out of control and they became afraid. They put fences to guard Congress and armed guards to keep them safe from the people they serve.

As a result many good conservative Americans who attended a rally in Washington, D.C., or defended the demonstrators, not only lost their freedom, they lost their faith.

On February 25, 2022, Matthew L. Perna took his own life. He was prosecuted for a 20-minute walk through the Capitol on January 6th. His family said he died of a “broken heart” and a “justice system that killed his spirit and zest for life.”

Brandon understands that despair. He didn’t necessarily think about suicide, but he got to the point for days and sometimes weeks where he thought, “Please just let me not wake up tomorrow.” He told Danielle that “the pressure, and the fear, and the intimidation, and the bullying, not just by the DOJ (Department of Justice), which is horrible, they’re not being honest, they’re not being fair, they’re not acting in good faith. I can certainly vouch for that. But in addition to that, it’s how you’re being treated in the public square by society at large.”

Brandon Straka was charged with one non-violent misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. Not only was his name trashed in the media, as a result of his conviction, he has been permanently banned from using PayPal, Venmo, Stripe, Patreon, plus numerous emails like Mailchimp and Constant Contact. He is also banned from donor portals that he uses for the WalkAway Campaign and his business structure was leveled. 

He points out in his interview that, because of WalkAway, he had (and has) thousands, maybe millions of people who support him. They emailed him and kept him up to date on social media. In addition, many people sent financial support. “Imagine,” he said, “the hundreds of people who are in similar situations who don’t have that.

They don’t have financial resources, they don’t have people telling them we know you’re a good person, we know you’re not what the media says. Of course it gets to be too much.” Their lives are torn apart, they’re being ostracized in their own communities, they’ve lost their jobs and become unemployable…and most likely, banished from using online payment platforms and receiving financial support. Brandon Straka is on a terrorism watch list, as are many conservatives who supported the January 6th rally for a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. 

It was a mix of people who attended the rally at the Capitol on January 6th. The vast majority of them were peaceful. Only some were actually “breaking the law.” Videos show that the doors were open and many were welcomed in by the police.

There are tapes of barriers being moved by police officers and conversations between the police officers and protestors inside the Capitol. There are videos of agitators who were never charged with anything – never questioned by the FBI.

We may never know what truly happened on January 6th. But the reaction of those in power has been swift and demonstrably unfair. Lives have been torn apart and it’s too much – much, much, much too much for people with non-violent misdemeanor charges.

Brandon Straka’s case was drawn out for a year. It was incredibly stressful, financially expensive and crushing in terms of trying to move forward with his life and his organization. His sentencing took place on January 24, 2022 – 364 days after the FBI swat team dragged him from his home into a D.C. jail.

He was sentenced to one single class B non-violent misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. He received three months of house arrest, three years’ probation, sixty hours of community service, the maximum fine of five thousand dollars, and he was ordered to pay five hundred dollars restitution to the Capitol, even though it was acknowledged that he did not damage the Capitol, nor did he engage in any destruction, theft or violence of any kind.

In addition to his sentence, he spent several days in jail a year ago and was on a year’s pretrial supervision. Makes you wonder what the rioters who burned down buildings around the United States received for their crimes.

We’re in real trouble here. Our Constitution guarantees us due process under the Fifth Amendment, but our government is arresting and holding political prisoners on pretrial detention orders, some have been held in solitary confinement for over a year, some have yet to be charged with a crime.

Our elected officials, who pledged to uphold the Constitution and protect it from threats, both foreign and domestic, are abdicating their duty, turning their back on their constituents.

Our press, guaranteed free speech by the First Amendment and encouraged by our politicians, spews propaganda and censors opposing viewpoints. Only “approved” narratives that support the administration are allowed. Free Speech be damned!

We are in a downward spiral and the bottom is close.

But our Founders were wise. They knew that power could corrupt and that the federal government was corruptible. They gave us the Article V – a way for the People to rein in the federal government and restore our republic.

The Convention of States allows the People to amend the Constitution and restore power to the People and to the States where it belongs. We the People can impose term limits. We can force our representatives to balance the budget and stop printing money. We can limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. We can get rid of unelected bureaucrats and agencies who spend decades in power wasting billions of dollars. If we don’t act now, we will hit bottom very soon and our country will be lost.

We’re halfway there and making progress daily. Please join us by signing the petition on the Convention of States website and lending a hand to save America.

This story is based on an interview on Counterculture with Brandon Straka and Danielle D’Souza Gill.  (The Epoch Times)  It a personal view of an out of control federal government, dishonest media, and the erosion of the Constitution. Here is the link to view the entire interview:

Ukraine and Jan. 6 | Counterculture (theepochtimes.com)

Brandon Straka, 'Walk Away' founder, charged in Capitol riot - Washington Times

Ukraine and Jan. 6 | Counterculture (theepochtimes.com)

Jan. 6 Defendant Takes His Own Life, Died of ‘Broken Heart,’ Family Says (theepochtimes.com)

Jan. 6 Capitol rioter dies by suicide because of 'broken heart' over case (nypost.com)

Right to Due Process: Overview | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Due Process of Law in the US Constitution (thoughtco.com)
Interpretation: The Equal Protection Clause | The National Constitution Center

BLM privilege and Jan. 6 shame (nypost.com)

Jan 6 protesters/trespassers/rioters held in solitary, no bail, some without charges (independentsentinel.com)

The WalkAway Campaign I Patriots Fighting for America I Home

BOMBSHELL: Marjorie Taylor Greene Exposes The Torture That J6 Prisoners Are Suffering Under The Biden Regime (trendingpolitics.com)

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