Another North Texas resident has been sentenced for “parading” in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Jason Lee Hyland, a Frisco real estate broker, was given one week of jail time after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading in a restricted building where a hearing was being held in Washington, D.C., on August 8.
Additionally, Hyland agreed to pay $500 in damages to the Architect of the Capitol, the federal agency that maintains, operates, develops, and preserves the Capitol complex. The Justice Department claimed nearly $1.5 million in damage was caused by the protesters.
Hyland had entered the capitol building after flying up to D.C. on a chartered jet along with Katherine Schwab and Jennifer Ryan, two other real estate professionals in DFW.
In testimony given during the case, Hyland described how the crowd of people created a “funnel” into the building. He said when he asked a member of the Capitol Police if he could go inside, the officer held the door open and said, “Everyone else is.”
After staying in the Capitol building for a “very short time,” Hyland left through the same door he had entered.
One of the other two realtors Hyland attended the protest with, Ryan, has similarly pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of parading. Ryan, however, was sentenced to six months in jail and given an additional $5,000 fine, as reported in The Dallas Express. Schwab’s case will also be decided in the coming week.
Growing concerns have been raised concerning the propriety of the prosecution methods many of the defendants have been subjected to and the partisan atmosphere surrounding the investigation.
Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX) claimed that while the protests were “a black eye for the county and for the American people,” Nancy Pelosi and other high-ranking D.C. officials have “used the hyper-partisan January 6th commission as a weapon.” He also said the California democrat “chose to take no responsibility for her failures to protect the Capitol grounds.”
Likewise, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) has condemned the government for abrogating defendants’ rights, including a speedy trial. He claimed elected officials had sought months for “truthful, non-politized answers from the government about the events that unfolded on January 6.
‘We have been continually stonewalled, belittled, ignored, and even demonized by the Department of Justice, leadership at the Capitol Police, and the Bureau of Prisons,” Rep. Gohmert said.
He went on to suggest, “A number of January 6 prisoners were held behind bars for months without ever being charged with a crime, and some without ever seeing evidence for or against them.”
“Should ideology and abuse of power continue to drive this administration’s actions, the Rule of Law will cease to exist,” the congressman warned.
So far, nearly 80 people have been arrested in Texas on charges related to the Capitol protests, according to the Justice Department’s database. Out of these, several North Texans recently pleaded guilty to similar counts of “illegal parading” as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
