LEGAL
Straka Gets Home Detention, Probation for January 6
Gay #WalkAway founder punished one year after infamous riot
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
Brandon Straka, the
out gay founder of the
#WalkAway Campaign,
will serve three months
of home detention with electronic
monitoring, spend three years on
probation, and pay a $5,000 fi ne
and $500 restitution for his role
in the January 6 rioting at the
Capitol building that attempted to
overturn the results of the 2020
election and give Donald Trump a
second term in the White House.
“I do agree with the defense
that Mr. Straka played a unique
role,” Judge Dabney Friedrich
said during a January 24 sentencing
hearing for Straka, who
pleaded guilty last year to a single
misdemeanor count of disorderly
conduct. “He did not assault any
police offi cers and he did not enter
the Capitol.”
On January 6, Straka entered
the Capitol grounds knowing that
they were closed to the public
that day. He was also aware that
the rioters at the Capitol building
had breached the building.
While Straka and his attorney,
Bilal Essayli, a partner at Essayli
& Brown in Irvine, California,
wrote in a statement to the court
and a sentencing memorandum
that Straka was unaware of the
attacks being made on police at
the building and that his conduct
once on the Capitol grounds was
political speech that is protected
by the First Amendment of the US
Constitution, Friedrich clearly rejected
those arguments.
“None of the criminal conduct to
which Mr. Straka has admitted to
is protected by the First Amendment,”
Friedrich said during the
roughly 90-minute hearing. “They
served to undermine democracy
and the rule of law.”
When Straka arrived at the
Capitol steps on the east side of
the building, he recorded an eight
minute video of himself. He was
yards away from a door and must
have been aware that the people at
that door were fi ghting with police.
Saying “go, go,” he urged the crowd
Brandon Straka was among those who participated in the events of January 6 at the Capitol last year.
to head inside. At one point, rioters
fought with a police offi cer and as
they tried to take a plastic shield
from the offi cer, Straka was heard
saying, “Take it, take it.” Later, he
turned his phone on himself and
said “They’re using gas. We’re being
gassed right now.” Friedrich
rejected Straka’s assertion that he
was unaware of what was occurring
on the grounds.
“I don’t fi nd it credible despite
the fact that he approached from
the east side that he had no idea
what was going on at the Capitol,”
Friedrich said.
Over 150 police offi cers were injured
during the January 6 rioting.
One offi cer died from a stroke
during the rioting. One rioter was
shot and killed by police inside the
Capitol building. Another two rioters
died from natural causes and
a third died from a drug overdose.
Four offi cers took their own lives
following the rioting.
The government sought four
months of home detention, three
years on probation, and the $500
restitution fee that is meant to pay
for Straka’s portion of the damage
to the Capitol building. There is no
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/JARED HOLT
evidence that Straka ever entered
the building or acted violently. In
a January 18 sentencing memorandum,
the defense asked that
Straka be sentenced to time served
for the two days he spent in jail after
his arrest in 2021 and “a short
term of house arrest coupled with
community service.”
Straka, nominally a Democrat,
became popular on the right in
2018 when he recorded a video
urging Democrats to abandon the
Democratic Party and join the
Republican Party. He was interviewed
by right wing media outlets,
spoke at conservative conferences,
at 2020 Trump campaign
rallies, and at a January 5, 2021
#StoptheSteal event in Washington,
DC. Essayli has a long history
in Republican Party politics in
California. Roughly 100 people dialed
in to attend Straka’s sentencing
hearing.
Friedrich was nominated for the
federal bench by Donald Trump
and approved by the US Senate
in a 97 to 3 vote in 2017. Friedrich
served in the White House during
George W. Bush’s fi rst term
and was counsel to Orrin Hatch,
a Republican from Utah, when he
chaired the Judiciary Committee
in the US Senate in 2002 and
2003.
The government sought “computer
monitoring and search conditions”
of Straka’s computer and
digital devices during his probation,
Brittany Reed, and assistant
US attorney, said during the hearing.
“We believe that would be particularly
important in this instance
because of Mr. Straka’s position
as a social media infl uencer,” Reed
said. Friedrich declined to impose
that condition, though she required
some drug testing. While
Straka once had alcohol and cocaine
problems, he has not used
drugs in seven years, he said during
the sentencing. The defense opposed
both conditions.
“We do not believe computer
monitoring is appropriate,” Essayli
said. “A computer was not used to
commit the offense here…We also
don’t believe drug testing is appropriate
here.”
Roughly three hours after Straka
left the Capitol grounds and
while police were still battling with
rioters, he sent out a tweet saying
“Patriots at the Capitol – HOLD.
THE. LINE!!!!” While he soon condemned
the rioting, his initial response
was to condemn those on
the right who were rejecting the
violence.
“That didn’t come for several
days,” Friedrich said. “Why didn’t
he appreciate what happened after
he watched the news that evening?
The next day he talked about it being
no big deal that people went inside
the Capitol.”
Friedrich did recognize that
Straka eventually expressed remorse
and cooperated with law
enforcement in three interviews,
including one this year, but she
noted that in the immediate aftermath,
he was still supporting the
rioting.
“He still persists in this idea that
it is okay to storm the Capitol to
protest an election,” she said. “That
is not what we do in this country…
Patriots don’t do that.”
JANUARY 27 - FEBRUARY 9,4 2022 | GayCityNews.com
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