Da’Jon Lengyel, 24, was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison. Christopher West, 36, of Pittsburgh was ordered to serve four years. West received a more stringent sentence due to prior criminal history.
They pleaded guilty earlier to conspiracy and obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder in connection to the riot.
Notably, West still faces state charges over allegations that he took a news photographer’s camera. The question however is why these charges were not left in the state system. This was a Pittsburgh police car and the men were arrested by state, not federal, officers.
We previously discussed how state prosecutors have quietly handed over protest cases to federal prosecutors. The shifting of such cases ordinarily will produce longer sentences and, in some cases, insulates local leaders from backlash over prosecuting protesters.
The Biden Administration dropped dozens of protests charges against defendants from the protests last summer. Many of those charges involved efforts to burn or destroy federal buildings, which were more appropriately brought in the federal system.