Jan. 6 Rioter with White Supremacist Tattoos Pleads for Leniency, Cites Black ‘Best Friend’
In a July sentencing memorandum, Brian Scott Jackson’s attorneys urged a federal judge to ignore the white supremacist tattoos on their client’s body and the text messages in evidence in which Jackson used racial slurs to describe police in Washington, D.C. Prior to Jackson’s sentence on Tuesday, which he received for assaulting police on January 6, 2021.
Rather, they requested that the judge take into account Jackson’s inability to pay for the tattoo removal, which was especially upsetting for him because his “best friend is African American.”
A picture of Jackson and his Black friend at the man’s wedding was also introduced by his counsel.
When Jackson’s defense lawyers came in court with the 48-year-old man on Tuesday to discuss his sentence before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, they made the same point that jumped off the page.
On September 6th, Adam Lejay Jackson, Jackson’s brother, entered a guilty plea to assaulting police. He was sentenced to 36 months of probation, which he had to spend over 52 weekends.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who attended the hearing as a public observer on January 6 despite not being physically assaulted by either of the Jackson brothers, told Law&Crime over the phone that Contreras appeared to be largely unimpressed with Jackson’s use of the “all too common, I have a Black friend defense,” Dunn noted, lightly paraphrasing the judge’s own words.
Jackson has previously stated that his tattoos are a result of his time spent behind bars in Texas, where he was compelled to pick a side in order to survive since the facilities were “overrun by competing gangs.”
However, there were other points of contention during Tuesday’s hearing besides the tattoos.
Dunn and around a dozen other members of Jackson’s family, friends, or supporters were the only people who attended the sentencing hearing, according to the former police officer. He mentioned the presence of Michelle “Micki” Witthoeft, who was detained for hitting a demonstrator in May of last year, and Ashli Babbitt’s mother, who was killed in a riot on January 6.
Due to his belief that “it is important to pay attention whenever people are being held accountable for their actions” in relation to January 6, Dunn stated he went.
Jackson’s attorneys did not respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment right away.
Jackson was sentenced by Judge Contreras to merely 37 months in jail plus three years of supervised release, despite the prosecution’s request for a 52-month term.
Law&Crime was informed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office that Jackson would be required to perform 60 hours of community service during his first year of release. In addition, he must make $2,000 in reparations.
When the Jackson brothers and other individuals attacked the officers on January 6, they were packed into the tunnel like sardines.
Source: Law&Crime