Capitol Riot Suspect to Judge: I Don’t Need a GPS Monitor Because I’m Christian

When Anthime Joseph Gionet (a.k.a internet troll “Baked Alaska”) allegedly stormed the Capitol in January, he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to overturn the election and he wasn’t even going to let cops get in his way.

“You’re a fucking oath breaker you piece of shit,” Gionet allegedly said [to a police officer], before shouting “fuck you” at the officer at least four times. “You broke your oath to the Constitution.”

…

“Unleash the Kraken, let’s go,” Gionet is heard saying in the video, according to the complaint. “America First is inevitable. Fuck Globalists, let’s go!”

At one point, Gionet filmed himself entering an office, picking up a telephone, and acting out a “purported phone call with the United States Senate personnel.”

It’s not surprising that Gionet’s defense lawyer is now trying to downplay his actions by saying he never explicitly called for violence… even though he stormed into the Capitol, barged into an office, and used property that wasn’t his. But it’s truly sad how the lawyer is asking the judge for leniency by citing Gionet’s purported Christian faith:

… Citing his “Christian upbringing” and schooling in a “private Christian” institution, the motion adds that “Mr. Gionet does not come from a background of violence and disdain for law enforcement” and should be allowed to wait for his trial without a GPS monitor.

Nothing says “I love Jesus” more than a Trump-loving neo-Nazi who storms the Capitol. He might fit in inside a white evangelical church, sure, but none of that means he deserves leniency after committing a federal crime. If he’s considered a flight risk, then being in the majority religion is irrelevant.

Christianity should never be a Get Out of Jail Free card. But that’s precisely what Gionet and his lawyer want it to be. No one deserves a reprieve from justice because he happens to believe in a popular brand of mythology. Certainly not someone who is a suspect for one of the most visible crimes against our government in modern history.

(via Joe. My. God.)