What’s next for January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump?
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0:57
Bureau Of Prisons Ordered To Act Immediately. And That’s What Attorney Mike Leonard Says Happened With His Client.
1:02
Robin Ryerson Of Schiller Park Was Released Around Midnight From Thompson, Federal Prison, Restart 3 Months Of His 18 Month Sentence. Express Sincere Remorse To The Court.
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I Think He Stands Behind That. I Think Itatould Would Have Done Things A Little Bit Differently, But Certainly He Was Never Somebody Who Should Have Been Incarcerated The First Place.
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Charging Document Show Ryerson On Officer’s Body-Worn Cameras. He Never Went Inside But Pushed Back Against A Police Line Guarding The Capitol As He’s Leaving The West Plaza. He Was Caught On Video Saying, Quote, Don’t Stop, Keep Photo Shared With WGN Shows The 70 Year-Old Reuniting With Family After He Was Brought To The Quad Cities In Took A Bus Back To Chicago Early Tuesday Morning.
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Have A New 3 Months Might Not Seem A Lot. But If You Ever Done A Day, I Think Degree That’s A Lot. Leonard Says Ryerson Was Emotional And Overjoyed By The Decision. He Believes It Was Warranted For His Client But Says It’s Harder To Justify For People Who Scheme To Commit Serious Crimes, Including Those Who Harmed Officers.
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I Think Part Should Always Be Done On A Case-By-Case Individualized Basis. So It’s Easy And Mr. Ryerson Situation See Why He’s Very Deserving Of A Pardon. May Be One Of The First Persons That Should Have Gotten One.
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In Washington, D.C., Supporters Gathered Outside The Jail To Support Pardon Inmates, Including Some Members Of Far-Right Extremist Groups On Capitol Hill. Senator Dick Durbin Who Was There That Day Shared His Thoughts With The President, Especially Regarding Those Who Attacked Law Enforcement Officers.
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Some People Died As A Result Of That Attack. Every American Should Be All. I’m Very Unhappy, Mr. President These Men And Women Given So Much Every Single Day Are Taken For Granted. So Much.
2:39
But The President Pardoned Those Who Attacked. Meanwhile, Marco’s Laffey, Who Lived In Elk Grove Village At The Time Says He Feels The Pardons Were Appropriate And That People Served Enough Time. He Was Sentenced To 3 Years Probation For Breaching The U.S. Capitol.
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Relief That I’ve Been Waiting For For So Long. You Know, That That The Last Couple Years Have Been So Stressful.
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Dana Rebik: Levy, Who Since Moved To Florida Says It Was His Curiosity That Got The Best Of Him. Court Records Show He Was Identified After A Tipster Saw His Facebook Posts. He Says If He Could Go Back In Time, You’d Still Go To The Capitol But Would Have Common Sense Not To Walk Through The Doors And Video Like He Did That Day.
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It’s Always Going To Have A Scar Me, You Know, They Have In My Name. You Know, Associated With That Day. I Mean, It Was A Day Should Should Wind Down A Little Bit More Different.
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Gaynor Hall: Trump Also Ordered The Attorney General To Seek To Dismiss About 450 Cases Pending Against Others Charged Sources With Thompson, Federal Prison Tell WGN Ryerson Was One Of 8 People Serving Time Related To January 6 That Were Released.
Trump grants sweeping pardon of Jan. 6 defendants
Illinois Congressman recalls Jan. 6 attack 4 years later as local defendants seek pardons from Trump
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0:02
On Certification Process
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Liz >> Karen. January 6th was a
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Historically Mundane Day.
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Constitution only mandate to certify the result of
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Democratic Presidential Election
It was a matter of Bureaucratic process until four years ago,
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When it meant certifying a loss that the 45th President Falsely claims didn’t Happen.
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It’s an image now burned into American History.
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Thousands of Armed, Flag wielding Trump Supporters swarming and scaling. The Scaffolding of the United States Capitol Beckoned there by the Former President Himself.
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We’re going to walk down to the Capitol as the mob shattered the windows and stormed the halls of Congress.
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Illinois representative Brad Schneider Hid with colleagues on the Gallery Floor, readying a gas mask for years to the day congress passed through steel security gates and returned to session today to execute that exact same process,
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This time to certify President Elect Trump’s return to the White House.
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We always need to remember this day for the fragility of our Democracy.
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It’s the largest investigation into government of Justice history.
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nearly 1600 Americans have been convicted of crimes connected to the Capitol insurrection.
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More than 600 have faced charges for assault or interfering with Law Enforcement.
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53 of those charged traveled to the Capitol from Illinois.
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Former President Trump Himself faced Federal charges for conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. With these 2024 re-election now certified by the candidate he defeated and the federal charges brought against him now dropped.
1:24
President Elect Trump has promised Sweeping Pardons for the convicted insurrection.
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He’s repeatedly reffered to as patriots.
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Former Federal prosecutor and ABC Seven’s Chief Legal Analyst explains what that could mean.
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The Pardons. They don’t expunge the record.
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They don’t make it as if people who have already been convicted were never convicted.
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But it restores their civil Liberties.
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As to the vast number of people who could still be charged if he offers a broad pardon, they can never be charged.
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Well, there are dozens of Illinois defendants convicted of January 6th related crimes now hoping for pardons and even some who haven’t been charged yet.
2:14
Hoping the Department of Justice will drop their cases altogether.
How does your experience on both sides of employment cases help you?
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0:04
if your career is dedicated to just one
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type of case you you only represent the
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defendants or you only represent the
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plaintiffs I think there’s a tendency to
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see things and shade things through a
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certain lens because that’s your whole
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body of experience so once you sort of
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switch sides and start handling cases
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for the other side of the case it really
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opens your eyes to the challenges and
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the opportunities and I think being on
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the defense side you certainly have an
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appreciation when you get to the
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plaintiff side that every case does have
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a monetary value ultimately and you
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understand the pressures that the
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defense side sees in a case and you also
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understand the often unwillingness of
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the defense clients to ultimately take
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the case to trial so I think that can
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help you be a little more aggressive in
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representing the plaintiffs because
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ultimately we want to get the cases to
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trial because that’s really where our
0:59
skill set is most useful and where we’ve
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been most successful
What is your experience in handling federal and state criminal appeals?
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work has been pretty wide and varied
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I’ve actually argued appeals in the
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state of California in the Supreme Court
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of Idaho in other Federal circuits but
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the emphasis because we’re at Chicago
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based is the seventh Circuit Court of
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Appeals where I’ve argued many Federal
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Criminal and Civil Appeals before the
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seventh circuit and then also an
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Illinois state court before the Illinois
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Pelt courts in various locations in the
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state arguing criminal cases on appeal
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and also civil cases and that’s a much
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different process and experience because
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obviously you’re not before a trial
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court judge you’re before a tribunal of
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three judges and the fun part and the I
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guess the exciting and scary part of
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doing a pill work is that you know the
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judges get to ask you whatever they want
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whenever they want and interrupt you in
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the middle of your argument so I think
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it’s kind of a fun challenge as an
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attorney to be able to think on your
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feet and be the type of individual that
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can just get peppered with questions and
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be ready for you know sort of all comers
What is your experience in handling discrimination cases?
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employment discrimination case is a
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little different than a lot of attorneys
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for about 10 or 15 years I worked
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exclusively on the defense side of
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employment discrimination cases meaning
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that I would be representing the company
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in litigation at at trial defending them
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against accusations that they had
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discriminated against an individual
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based upon a wide variety of reasons
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could be age race gender sexual
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harassment but about 10 or 12 years ago
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I sort of flip sides and now on a
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regular basis I represent the
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individuals who are suing companies for
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discrimination again in a wide variety
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of protected classes however I do from
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time to time represent companies who are
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being sued but have really a good basis
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of experience a decade or so on each
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side of the of the V so to speak so I
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have a really good understanding of what
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the defense side is thinking what
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perspective their client may have and
1:00
then also clearly uh the perspective of
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the planet the individual who’s bringing
1:04
the case and what will be the obstacles
1:06
and difficulties in winning that case at
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trial
What should I look for in hiring a lawyer to defend me against federal charges?
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a lawyer for a federal criminal case I
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think there’s a multitude of factors but
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several basic ones first of all does the
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lawyer have a deep experiencing handling
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Federal cases because there is a lot of
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difference in terms of procedure law and
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nuance and sort of courtroom decorum in
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federal court versus state court so I’d
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want an attorney who has a wide body of
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federal experience number two and most
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practically is an attorney who’s had
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success actually winning Federal jury
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trials because there’s only two options
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in a federal case it’s either going to
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plead or it’s going to go to trial so
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I’d certainly want to know has this
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attorney has they have they stepped
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before a jury have they experienced the
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success of getting not guilty jury
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verdicts in federal court of course if
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I’m a consumer or Advocate or anybody
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I’d probably want to hire the person
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that wins more often versus the person
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who’s never won a case in federal court
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so those would be key factors and the
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last part would be just a comfort level
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with the attorney again of the fact that
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they feel that they can have a
1:08
relationship with them that they have a
1:10
hundred percent confidence that that
1:12
person is going to do everything they
1:14
can to either win the case at trial or
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to get the most favorable plea agreement
1:18
that they can just a level of trust and
1:20
confidence and respect between the
1:23
lawyer and the client
What types of federal criminal cases have you tried?
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my experience in handling cases on
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behalf of defendants and federal
0:08
criminal cases is extremely wide a lot
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of the cases surprisingly would seem
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like they would be typically state court
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cases so a wide variety of drug cases
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gun cases cases such as carjackings
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kidnappings bank robberies surprising to
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some people a lot of those what are
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called sort of Street crimes are federal
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cases but also some of the larger cases
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that we handled are things like murder
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for hire in federal court Health Care
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fraud on a regular basis bank fraud
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conspiracy wire fraud mail fraud because
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of our length of time I’ve been
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practicing probably handled every type
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of federal criminal offense that you can
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imagine but in terms of the white collar
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cases which is one of our Hallmarks they
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typically tend to be in their domain of
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healthcare fraud bank fraud mortgage
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fraud some sort of fraud scheme that
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allows the feds to charge the k
1:04
typically because there’s a wire fraud
1:07
element to whatever the fraudulent
1:09
scheme is that you can imagine that
1:11
could be charged in federal court
How many federal criminal trials have you won?
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we’ve had eight separate cases where the
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jury has returned uh not a single count
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of guilty against our clients meaning
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that in seven out of eight of those
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cases the client is walking totally free
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in the eighth case there was one count
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against our client but that was a
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mistried case a mistried count so eight
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occasions where essentially the jury
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didn’t find our client guilty of a
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single count which is highly unusual in
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federal court you have a lot of lawyers
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who unfortunately have not experienced
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the thrill of a not guilty in federal
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court in a criminal trial some have
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experienced once or twice and we’ve been
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on that board about eight times which is
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highly unusual and so that’s kind of one
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of our calling cards our ability to be
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successful against the feds in criminal
0:52
trials in Chicago and elsewhere
Can you tell us about a memorable case you handled involving federal charges?
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probably like to talk about what one of
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our most recent wins in January of 2023
0:10
we represent an individual who was a
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high-ranking employee of a medical
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device company and the case went to
0:17
trial here in federal court in Chicago
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for a couple of weeks and we had been
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working with a client since 2019 so it
0:24
was a culmination of four years of
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effort and you know really a
0:29
firm belief from the get-go that this
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client never should have been charged
0:34
that Not only was she not guilty but she
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was innocent and after a two-week trial
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after hearing from a dozen Witnesses or
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so the jury returned to verdictive not
0:43
guilty on all charges against her and
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it’s memorable in the sense that you
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know going out with the client
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afterwards to celebrate with her and her
0:51
mother to see the smile on her face it
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really almost felt like I was with a
0:56
different person so I’ll always remember
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that smile and and the real person
1:01
coming out after it’s sort of this
1:03
burden had been lifted from her out
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there this four-year battle
What are the federal sentencing guidelines?
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0:04
the federal sentencing guidelines are at
0:07
the Forefront of any criminal case from
0:09
your initial evaluation of the case
0:12
to assessing your odds at trial and
0:15
making a risk benefit with your client
0:16
and then of course if your client is
0:18
found guilty at the sentencing phase but
0:21
what they really are are series of
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guidelines or rules that the courts
0:25
apply in federal cases which primarily
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takes into two factors the offense level
0:31
that’s assigned to the crime meaning a
0:33
higher number would correspond with what
0:36
people believe to be the sentencing
0:38
commission believes to be a a more
0:39
serious offense and the second
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significant factor would be the
0:43
defendant’s criminal history on how many
0:45
other occasions have they been convicted
0:47
of crimes but the federal sentencing
0:49
guidings have also changed in a real
0:51
significant way over the last 10 years
0:53
and now there’s something called the
0:55
3553 factors that the courts recognize
0:59
where we as attorneys can really bring
1:01
to the attention almost anything that
1:03
would be considered mitigating evidence
1:05
that should be considered in the court
1:07
sort of taking a holistic view of the
1:10
defendant but the reason why why people
1:12
place so much emphasis on the federal
1:14
sentencing guidelines are the often very
1:16
Draconian penalties associated with
1:19
federal crimes you might have a client
1:21
who’s facing a mandatory minimum
1:23
sentence of 10 years or 15 years or 20
1:27
years those are stiff sentences and
1:29
sometimes it might be up to life so you
1:32
have to be extremely confident in your
1:34
attorney that they have the ability to
1:36
take your case to trial because
1:38
sometimes you really don’t have any
1:40
choice a client’s often not going to
1:42
take sitting down without a trial 10 or
1:45
15 or 20 years or up to a life sentence
1:47
without going to trial so the selection
1:51
of a trial attorney who can take your
1:53
case to try out the federal level and
1:54
win is of Paramount importance
What kinds of state felony cases do you handle?
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primarily started my career in terms of
0:07
Federal Criminal experience about 20 25
0:09
years ago doing exclusively Federal
0:11
cases but over the years getting a track
0:14
Road records of success in Federal
0:17
Criminal trials has led me to handle on
0:20
a very regular basis now a state court
0:22
criminal felony cases here in Illinois
0:24
and in other jurisdictions and by way of
0:27
example just last week we represented an
0:29
individual in a state felony case in
0:33
Illinois where the individual was a
0:35
charge with attempted murder and were
0:37
able to obtain a not guilty verdict for
0:39
that individual so on quite a regular
0:41
basis we represent individuals in state
0:43
felony cases here in Illinois and take
0:46
those cases of trial in cases ranging
0:48
anywhere from gun crimes to murder or
0:51
even some white collar offense cases
0:53
even though those are less frequently
0:55
charged in State Court
What is a whistleblower lawsuit?
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0:04
whistleblower lawsuit is really you
0:07
probably want to Define them in two ways
0:08
there are state and federal statutes
0:11
that allow someone to come forward as a
0:13
whistleblower and bring forth
0:15
information to indicate that a company
0:19
or individual is either bilking the
0:22
government out of money or defrauding
0:24
the public so those are whistleblower
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statutes devised to incentivize
0:29
individuals to come forth information
0:32
that essentially furthers either the
0:35
government good or the public good and
0:37
allows the Whistler to share in the
0:39
recovery meaning for instance if there
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to be a million dollar recovery The
0:44
Whistleblower might get up to 30 percent
0:46
of that recovery the other type of
0:48
whistleblower case which is also common
0:50
and more common at the state court level
0:52
is where an individual comes forward and
0:55
Blows the Whistle internally at a
0:57
company about illegal activity and then
1:00
in turn they get fired and so that often
1:03
results in US representing them at file
1:05
in retaliation cases based upon their
1:07
whistleblowing
What is your experience in representing whistleblowers?
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0:05
cases I can give you a good recent
0:07
example we represent an individual who
0:10
had complained internally to the Chicago
0:12
Transit Authority about what she
0:15
believed to be illegal activities and
0:17
then was fired shortly thereafter and
0:20
after a multi-year battle we finally
0:23
were able to get the case to trial here
0:25
in a Circuit Court of Cook County and
0:27
after trying that case before a jury for
0:29
a week week and a half the jury awarded
0:31
a substantial money award to our client
0:34
the plaintiff but to show the
0:36
difficulties of being invisible or we
0:38
then had to fight at the Appellate level
0:40
for several years before the Illinois
0:42
Pell Court in Illinois Supreme Court
0:44
just to get our whistlebar into position
0:46
to finally get paid so that really was
0:48
an example of a very rewarding but
0:51
taxing case which kind of shows the
0:54
dedication you need to the client to The
0:56
Whistleblower over a long period of time
