{"id":1289893,"date":"2022-02-10T20:07:37","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T01:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1289893"},"modified":"2022-02-10T20:07:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T01:07:45","slug":"texas-republican-slams-doj-for-kid-gloved-treatment-of-blm-arsonist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-republican-slams-doj-for-kid-gloved-treatment-of-blm-arsonist\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Republican Slams DOJ For \u2018Kid-Gloved\u2019 Treatment Of BLM Arsonist"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-republican-slams-doj-for-kid-gloved-treatment-of-blm-arsonist%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1289893&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy released a statement Thursday criticizing the gentle treatment the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) gave the arsonist,&nbsp;Montez Terriel Lee, who killed Oscar Stewart with a fire he set during the 2020 George Floyd riots.<\/p>\n<p>In a memo sent Wednesday, Roy demanded the DOJ and the former Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota W. Anders Folk explain their decision to ask for a lighter sentence for Lee,&nbsp;according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/house-republicans-press-biden-doj-on-soft-sentence-for-floyd-arsonist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a> by the Washington Free Beacon who first obtained Roy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/roy.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/rep-roy-demands-answers-whether-political-influence-led-biden-prosecutor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">letter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">A man (w\/a long criminal record) burned down a pawn shop in the BLM riots. The fire killed a father of 5.<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s DOJ fought to soften his sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Justice demands that favor not be doled out based on political views. Rep. Roy is fighting for answers.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/H8e8yATxHx\">https:\/\/t.co\/H8e8yATxHx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepChipRoy\/status\/1491802473991864333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 10, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe document reads as if it were written by the defendant\u2019s counsel rather than the prosecuting attorney,\u201d said Roy\u2019s letter.&nbsp;\u201cYour office advocated for a significant downward departure from the Sentencing Guidelines, asking for a term of imprisonment of 144 months with a guideline range of 235-240 months.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roy argued in the letter that requesting the sentencing for Lee to be lowered from 20 years to 12 years shows that Folk \u201ctook pains to explain away and justify [Lee\u2019s] actions.\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>(RELATED:&nbsp;Manhattan DA Reverses Policies Amid Backlash Over \u2018Soft On Crime\u2019 Approach)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would appear that Mr. Lee is enjoying the benefits of kid-gloved, preferential treatment in this case because he committed violence in furtherance of the preferred political views of your office and the current administration,\u201d wrote Roy.<\/p>\n<p>Lee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/557917425\/U-S-v-Terriel-Lee-plea-agreement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">admitted<\/a> to setting the fire that destroyed the Max It Pawn Shop but did not plead guilty to killing Steward because he claimed he checked the building for people before setting the fire, according to the Washington Free Beacon.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. District Court of Minnesota\u2019s sentencing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/557917106\/U-S-v-Terriel-Lee-government-sentencing-memo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">memo<\/a> wrote that \u201cthe value of human life is incalculable \u2026 no price tag can be put on it, and no amount of punishment can equal the loss.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Folk admits in the memo that recommending to the judge to lower the minimum sentencing in Lee\u2019s case \u201cis not ordinarily appropriate\u201d but argued, \u201cthis is an extraordinary case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Lee\u2019s motive for setting the fire is a foremost issue,\u201d said the memo. \u201cMr. Lee credibly states that he was in the streets to protest unlawful police violence against black men, and there is no basis to disbelieve the statement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lee blamed police brutality and race as the reason for starting the fire, according to the memo. Lee said he was \u201ccaught up in the fury of the mob after living as a black man watching his peers suffer at the hands of police.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In defense of Lee, Folk quoted Martin Luther King Jr\u2019s 1966 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_K0BWXjJv5s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interview<\/a> with Mike Wallace where King said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard.\u201d Folk claimed that Lee was merely \u201cangry, frustrated, and disenfranchised,\u201d and his actions tried to give a \u201cvoice to those feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>Roy asked Folk and the DOJ to explain their logic behind lowering the sentencing recommendations for Lee when \u201cthe principle of equal justice under the law demands that favor not be given based on political views.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If you\u2019re able to, chip in now to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MNFreedomFund?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MNFreedomFund<\/a> to help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/t8LXowKIbw\">https:\/\/t.co\/t8LXowKIbw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\/status\/1267555018128965643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 1, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAs a member of the House Judiciary Committee with oversight over the Department of Justice, I sincerely hope that was not the case; but given the words and actions of this Attorney General, his FBI, and his federal prosecutors over the course of the past year, I would not find it surprising in the least,\u201d wrote Roy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy released a statement Thursday criticizing the gentle treatment the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) gave the arsonist,\u00a0Montez Terriel Lee, who killed Oscar Stewart with a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1289893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1289893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1289893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1289893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1289893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1289893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}