Jonathan Carlton from Raiford pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor charges related to the January 6, 2021, insurrection of the U.S. Capitol. Now, Carlton’s attorney is asking for probation for his client.
The attorney submitted a sentencing memorandum to the federal court in Washington, D.C. In it, they argue that Carlton was one of the many “manipulated and used by Mr. Trump for his own selfish purposes.”
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Carlton walked from the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse to the Capitol, then entered the Capitol around 2:48 p.m. His attorneys wrote, “while Carlton accepts responsibility for his actions, he was guided and urged every step of the way by no less of an authority than the former President of the United States and a majority of Republican Senators and Congressman that continue to repeat the ‘Big Lie’ that the election had been stolen by the Democrats. Carlton was a fierce supporter of the former president.”
Carlton’s attorney said when Carlton entered the building, he was more intent on finding his friend Bradley Weeks, with whom he traveled with, than he was in entering the building.
Weeks is also charged in relation to the January 6 riots.
According to the memo – Carlton wanted to turn around, but it was too late – and he was “literally pushed inside the Capitol”.
READ: Jonathan Carlton defense sentencing memo
Carlton and his attorney are asking for a sentence of probation, community service, and the mandatory $500 fine, saying that’s been the sentence in about a third of the similar cases from the capitol riots. Another third led to a sentence of home detention, probation, and the fine, and the rest had some period of incarceration.
According to the memo, on May 20, the Florida Dept. of Corrections informed Carlton he was dismissed from his position as a corrections officer at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, because of his guilty plea. He is now not only unemployed, but will lose his subsidized housing that he had as part of his employment – so he will have to uproot his family, and his kids may need to attend new schools.
It also says that if Carlton got a sentence that involved incarceration, because he was a corrections officer, he would have to be in protective custody, essentially locked down for 23 hours a day – a sentence that would be “unduly harsh.”