The Department of Justice (DOJ) warned a Jan. 6 defendant Tuesday that his sentence would not be reduced, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision in a coming case related to a statute he was charged under.
Jan. 6 defendant Anthony Williams asked the court in February to grant him bond pending his appeal in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to take up Fischer v. United States, which challenges the scope of an obstruction statute used to charge him, along with hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants. The DOJ warned in a court filing Tuesday that in spite of the pending case — and an appeals court ruling finding it wrongly lengthened Jan. 6 sentences by applying an enhancement for interfering with the “administration of justice” — it would increase its sentencing recommendation on the remaining counts to maintain the current sentence length.
“[T]he government respectfully submits that Williams nevertheless cannot show that there is any likelihood that the outcome in Fischer will result in a reduced sentence to a term of imprisonment less than the total of the time already served plus the expected duration of the appeal process,” the DOJ wrote.