Federal prosecutors have dismissed more than one-third of cases stemming from last summer's violent protests in downtown Portland, when protesters clashed with federal agents. KGW reviewed federal court records and found 31 of the 90 protest cases have been dismissed by the U.S. Department of Justice, including a mix of misdemeanor and felony charges.
Some of the most serious charges dropped include four defendants charged with assaulting a federal officer, which is a felony. More than half of the dropped charges were "dismissed with prejudice," which several former federal prosecutors described as extremely rare. "Dismissed with prejudice" means the case can't be brought back to court...
...At least 11 of the dismissed federal protest cases were dropped on or after the inauguration of President Joe Biden. With a new president and soon new a U.S. Attorney in Oregon, it's unclear how these cases will be handled going forward. Like the protests themselves, there will undoubtedly be opposing views. Some will argue by dismissing cases, there's no accountability while others will claim the feds never should have filed protest cases in the first place.
So let me see if I have this right; a kid from Georgia (and dozens more just like him) who did nothing more but talk trash on social(ist) media because he traipsed into the Capitol through a door likely opened by the DC cops themselves, and did nothing more than look at the drapery and portraits of dead white slave owners, is the greatest threat to the survival of the republic
Bruno Joseph Cua lives on a three-acre farm in central Georgia with his parents and two younger siblings. The 18-year-old likes to fish and build tree houses; neighbors, family friends, and classmates describe him as hard-working, kind, respectful, and patriotic. He's not into drugs or alcohol -- his biggest high last year was organizing Trump truck rallies in his community.
Before he traveled to Washington, D.C. on January 5 with his mom and dad to hear President Trump's speech the next day, Bruno was finishing online classes to earn his high school diploma. (His mother, a veterinarian, stopped working years ago to homeschool her children.) Like many teenagers interested in politics, Bruno is a bit of a rabble-rouser and social media loudmouth.
The Cuas, after hearing the president's speech on January 6, walked to Capitol Hill. Bruno made his way into the building; the teen later posted on Parler that he "stormed the capital (sic) with hundreds of thousands of patriots. Yes we physically fought our way in."
Now, Bruno Cua sits in jail in Washington, D.C. awaiting trial for his involvement in the January 6 Capitol breach, the youngest of the nearly 300 people so far arrested under the U.S. Justice Department's "unprecedented" investigation into the events of that day. Unlike tens of thousands of protestors who occupied the nation's capital for months -- including young people who bragged about it in a Washington Post magazine -- Cua will be given no mercy.
Neither will his parents, Joseph and Alise...
...The Cua case has nothing to do with seeking justice for the melee on January 6 or appropriately prosecuting one of the participants. It has nothing to do with making sure the nation's capital or Cua's hometown remains safe.
It has everything to do with punishing a family who dared to show up in support of Donald Trump and dared to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
The Justice Department, which acts more like a consigliere for the Democratic Party than an impartial enforcer of the rule of law, wants to ruin the Cua family and send a message to others.
Despite no criminal record and nearly 50 letters testifying to his good character, Bruno Cua continues to suffer in prison while his family awaits word as to whether he can come home. (The Cuas have offered to put up their home as bond.) "Since he has been arrested, everything has changed for us," a tearful Alise Cua told Judge Moss this week. "We just want our family together. I don't even want to even hear the word politics. Bruno feels the same way."
"We are completely broken."
And that's exactly what the U.S. Justice Department wants.
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