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Three appeals court judges ruled on Friday that a Jan. 6 rioter’s sentence was improperly lengthened, a decision that could impact the sentences of scores of other Jan. 6 defendants, according to Politico. The Justice Department had been regularly recommending that judges use a sentencing enhancement for “interference with the administration of justice” to add one to two years onto the sentences of defendants who stormed the U.S. Capitol, because rioters had interrupted the counting and certification of electoral votes, a judicial proceeding. According to the judges, however, the process of certifying votes, “bears little resemblance to the traditional understanding of the administration of justice as the judicial or quasi-judicial investigation or determination of individual rights,” the panel concluded. The decision is the result of an appeal from Larry Brock, a Jan. 6 rioter who was sentenced to two years in prison, using the “administration of justice” enhancement. The new decision may be used to shorten the sentences of over 100 rioters according to The Washington Post, but it’s not definite as the enhancement only increases the sentencing range, and judges in D.C. often sentence below the maximum.
