On Wednesday, Michael Curzio pleaded guilty to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building. The government offered the plea deal to Curzio’s court-appointed attorney in June; Curzio faced four misdemeanor charges, including trespassing and disorderly conduct, for his role in the Capitol breach.
Curzio will pay the government “restitution” in the amount of $500 to help pay for the nearly $1.5 million in damages the building reportedly sustained. (The Architect of the Capitol initially said the protest caused $30 million in damages but prosecutors have set the figure far lower.)
Curzio briefly entered the Capitol on January 6. He did not bring a weapon or assault police officers. In fact, he was arrested that day for trespassing, paid a fine, and was ordered back to Washington, D.C. in June for a court date. But the next day, the government issued a warrant for his arrest on two misdemeanors; entering or remaining on Capitol grounds and violent entry.
After leaving work on January 14, Curzio was pulled over a few miles from his Florida home. “Out of nowhere, police SUVs were in front, behind, and alongside my vehicle,” Curzio told me by phone Sunday afternoon. “The cops were screaming, ‘get out, get out’ and had their guns drawn.”
Curzio was arrested. Based on his criminal record—Curzio spent nearly seven years in jail for attempted first-degree murder—a Florida judge denied bond. (He was not on parole or probation.) Biden’s Justice Department took it from there.
Like dozens of defendants ordered held in D.C., Curzio spent a few weeks on buses and planes before he arrived at the jail that would be his home for more than five months. “I was in solitary at the Marion County (Florida) jail for eight days then transported by bus to another Florida jail. Then they took me to Jacksonville where I boarded a plane headed to Atlanta. Then to Oklahoma federal prison. Then to a jail in West Virginia and then Virginia. I finally got to D.C. on February 3.”
All detainees are required to quarantine in a single-man cell for 14 days under remaining COVID restrictions. But the jail conditions for January 6 defendants, which they refer to as “the pod,” aren’t much better. “It was just like being quarantined,” Curzio said. “We were locked down for 23 hours a day, only out for an hour to shower, talk to family, and talk to our lawyers.”
Curzio corroborates the accounts of other detainees, including reports of physical and mental abuse by prison guards, inedible food, and zero access to the outdoors, religious services, or physical activity. In-person meetings with lawyers are discouraged; if a detainee meets with his defense counsel, he must return to quarantine.
The detainees, despite the harsh conditions and unequal treatment by the U.S. justice system, nonetheless have found esprit de corps. They sing the National Anthem each night at 9:00 p.m. to keep spirits up.
“Most of the guys in there weren’t just there to support Trump, we went there for America. There were a lot of people there like me, people who lost everything in the lockdowns. We were saying, ‘we’ve had enough, we are tired of your foot on our neck.’”
https://amgreatness.com/2021/07/22/a-january-6-detainee-speaks-out/