{"id":1337383,"date":"2022-02-24T12:25:09","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T17:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1337383"},"modified":"2022-02-24T12:38:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T17:38:25","slug":"woman-who-broadcast-jan-6-live-on-facebook-sentenced-to-45-days-in-jail-5000-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/woman-who-broadcast-jan-6-live-on-facebook-sentenced-to-45-days-in-jail-5000-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Who Broadcast Jan. 6 Live on Facebook Sentenced to 45 Days in Jail, $5,000 Fine"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/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%2Fwoman-who-broadcast-jan-6-live-on-facebook-sentenced-to-45-days-in-jail-5000-fine%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=1337383&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--><p>Senior Judge Reggie B. Walton chides her for blaming Antifa and BLM for Jan. 6 violence<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A California woman who broadcast her trip through the U.S. Capitol on Facebook on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 45 days in jail and levied a $5,000 fine by U.S. District Senior Judge Reggie B. Walton, who lectured her for blaming Black Lives Matter and Antifa for some of the violence that day when that \u201cobviously was not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Imelda Acosta, who was described in court documents by her social media name\u2014Mariposa Castro\u2014was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor. As part of a plea agreement, several other charges were dismissed.<\/p>\n<p>Clips from her 47 minutes of Facebook broadcasts were played by prosecutor Jordan Konig at the sentencing hearing. Konig argued for a 60-day jail term. The government\u2019s sentencing memo cited statements Acosta made on the live-stream, including \u201cwe\u2019re coming\u201d and \u201cthis is war.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4298441\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Facebook_Live_Mariposa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4298441\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Facebook_Live_Mariposa-190x350.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"156\" height=\"288\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4298441\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Facebook_Live_Mariposa-190x350.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"156\" height=\"288\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Imelda Acosta, aka Mariposa Castro, enters the U.S. Capitol while broadcasting live on Facebook on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Department of Justice\/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>During one broadcast, Acosta said, \u201cWe\u2019re breaking in! We are breaking in! We\u2019re doing this. We\u2019re breaking in, right? \u2026 We\u2019re taking our house back. This is our Capitol. We\u2019re taking it back. No more bull[expletive]!\u201d according to prosecutors. Acosta entered the Capitol through a broken window, court documents said.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Walton said jail time is a necessary punishment, to send a message to others who harbor a similar mindset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026It is my view that in order for people to understand that if you\u2019re going to engage in the type of behavior that you engaged in, if you\u2019re going to make the statements that you made on that day in reference to what was occurring, and then if you\u2019re going to disseminate that information to others, there has to be a penalty for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Defense attorney Elita Amato argued in a sentencing memo that Acosta did not cause damage or engage in any violence while inside the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>Acosta told Judge Walton she is a peace-loving person who carried a peace flag with her that day. She described herself as \u201cvery empathic\u201d and said that at the Capitol, a \u201cdark energy \u2026 just sucked me into this.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Judge: Why Blame Antifa, BLM?<\/h2>\n<p>Judge Walton interrupted Acosta\u2019s statement and made clear he did not believe her contentions. He chided her for references she made to BLM and Antifa on the Facebook broadcasts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was clear to anybody who was at the Capitol on that day or who watched it on TV that these people who were doing the things that were going on that day were former President Trump\u2019s supporters,\u201d Walton said, \u201cbut you represented that these acts were being committed by Antifa and Black Lives Matter people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I don\u2019t condone violence by anybody, but that was very concerning as to why you would try to blame somebody else for what obviously was not the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Acosta said she was only \u201crepeating what others were saying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut you had your own eyes,\u201d the judge said. \u201cYou had your own eyes to see what was going on. What would have caused to you repeat something that somebody else said that obviously was false, considering what you had to have seen and observed?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The judge also questioned Acosta on her statement about taking back the Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho do you think you were taking your Capitol back from?\u201d Walton asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was just repeating what other people were repeating and that just came out,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what we were taking the Capitol back from. It was just something I was repeating from other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4298467\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Castro_WestTunnel2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy wp-image-4298467\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Castro_WestTunnel2-190x350.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"148\" height=\"272\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4298467\" src=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/02\/23\/Castro_WestTunnel2-190x350.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"148\" height=\"272\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Imelda Acosta broadcasting from the West Terrace tunnel at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (U.S. Department of Justice\/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)<\/figure>\n<p>Judge Walton made an extended statement before pronouncing the sentence, noting both Acosta\u2019s actions and words were factors to consider. He expressed frustration with the political divide in America, and allegations by Trump supporters of election fraud in the 2020 presidential vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese cases are difficult, because on the one hand, most of the people who got caught up in this situation don\u2019t have prior records and seem to have lived decent lives before whatever caused them to develop the mindset to do what they did on January 6th,\u201d the judge said. \u201cOn the other hand, it\u2019s very troubling to me that we have people in our country who, when there is an election and they don\u2019t get their way, that they act out in the manner that we saw take place on January 6th.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walton said this situation is \u201cleading us to a very dangerous place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happens next time around? Would it be justified if whoever the Democratic candidate is runs and loses\u2014and that\u2019s always a possibility\u2014that the Democratic supporters would then say, \u2018Well, we think the election was stolen\u2019 and strike out as the former president\u2019s constituents did?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump supporters have pointed out the violence by hundreds of anti-Trump leftists on inauguration day in January 2017. Rioters threw bricks and chunks of concrete at police, smashed storefront windows of downtown businesses, set fire to a limousine at the edge of the inauguration secure zone, and lit a bonfire as night fell. Police made more than 200 arrests. The DisruptJ20 coalition had announced its goal of shutting down or impeding the inauguration ceremony and the inaugural balls.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018History is Repeating Itself\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Judge Walton, appointed to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001, said he has been reading books about how civil wars start. He said \u201cso much of history is repeating itself in our country,\u201d with things happening that in other places \u201ccaused a destruction of democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow those same type of things are now happening in America, because we\u2019ve got a segment of our society that it has to be their way and no other way,\u201d Walton said. \u201cA democratic society can\u2019t function that way, because in a democratic society, somebody\u2019s gonna win and somebody\u2019s gonna lose. And historically, while people may not have been happy about having lost, they accepted that reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walton told Acosta he did not believe her 2022 statements that she was only repeating the words of others on the live streams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContrary to what you\u2019re saying now and contrary to what you said in your letter, you were there for an extended period of time,\u201d he said. \u201cYou seemed to be gleeful. You seemed to be happy about what was going on. You did not seem to be a peace-loving person. You seemed to be someone that was seeking to inspire others to do what you thought you had done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of message does that send to people who may have the same mindset that you had that day?\u201d the judge asked. \u201cThat\u2019s a very troubling situation for this country to be experiencing. It\u2019s concerning to me. I love this country. This country has been good to me. And to see what people are trying to do to this country for their own partisan, biased perspective is just very concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Walton stressed the need to set an example.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe concern I have is what message do you send to others, because unfortunately, there are a lot of people out here who have the same mindset that existed on January 6th that caused those events to occur,\u201d he said. \u201cIf people start to get the impression that you can do what happened on January 6th, you can associate yourself with that behavior and that there\u2019s no real consequence, then people will say, \u2018Why not do it again?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-joe-hanneman\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/WEB_JoeHanneman.jpg\" alt=\"Joseph M. Hanneman\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Joseph Hanneman is a reporter for The Epoch Times who covers the State of Wisconsin. His work over a nearly 40-year career has appeared in Catholic World Report, the Racine Journal Times, the Wisconsin State Journal and the Chicago Tribune. Reach him at: joseph.hanneman@epochtimes.us<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Senior Judge Reggie B. Walton chides her for blaming Antifa and BLM for Jan. 6 violence A California woman who broadcast her trip through the U.S. Capitol on Facebook on<\/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-1337383","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\/1337383","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=1337383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337383\/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=1337383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}