(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Adding more oil to the flame of suspicions that January 6 protester Ray Epps was a government agent or at least a provocateur, a federal judge has given him a very lenient sentence for his role in the US Capitol events compared with hundreds of American patriots who were also there.
Epps, a man captured on video urging protestors to breach the Capitol on January 6, 2021, received a sentence of one-year probation for his involvement in storming the US Congress building.
Chief Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court for the District of Columbia handed down the sentence after the US Justice Department had asked for a six-month prison term.
Epps is also required to pay $500 in restitution, The Daily Caller reports.
Epps entered a guilty plea in September to a single misdemeanor charge of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds.
In response to the prosecutors’ demand for a six-month term, Epps’ defense team proposed that he be given a probationary sentence.
“For the reasons above, on behalf of Ray Epps, undersigned counsel requests that the Court impose a probationary sentence with conditions that may but do not necessarily include a firearms restriction, restitution of $500, and the mandatory $25 special assessment,” concluded Epps’ legal team.
Footage live-streamed on the evening of January 5, 2021, showed Epps among a group of Trump supporters, where he was seen encouraging them to enter the Capitol the following day.
“We’re far beyond that. In fact, tomorrow—I don’t even like to say it because I’ll be arrested—we need to go IN to the Capitol. We’re here to defend the Constitution. [. . .] I’m going to put this out there. I’m probably going to jail for it. Tomorrow, we need to go IN to the Capitol. IN to the Capitol. Peacefully,” Epps was heard saying in the video.
The footage led to widespread conjecture about Epps being a federal agent, particularly since he hadn’t been charged for his January 6 actions then.
Epps attributed the federal prosecutors’ decision to charge him to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Fox News, as he mentioned in a defamation lawsuit against the network.
According to a DOJ update, over 1,200 individuals from across the United States have been charged over January 6, 2021. Hundreds have been given prison terms of up to five years.