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Trump’s mass pardons on January 6 include Northern Californians from all walks of life – The Mercury News

Trump’s mass pardons on January 6 include Northern Californians from all walks of life – The Mercury News

WASHINGTON DC – There was the Half Moon Bay aquaponics farmer, the Sacramento Republican Assembly speaker who spoke online about “going to war,” and the Gilroy yoga studio owner.

All Northern California residents were named by federal prosecutors as people who joined the thousands of Capitol insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, and now they are all beneficiaries of President Donald Trump’s pardon.

RELATED: Former Proud Boys leader and Oath Keepers founder released after Trump offered clemency on Jan. 6

In total, more than 1,500 people have been charged or already indicted for the mass assault on the Capitol, including more than 500 accused of violence against police. At least 17 were from Northern California. Many of those pardoned had already served short prison sentences: their criminal convictions will be expunged and they will be free of any ongoing parole requirements.

Trump’s order also directs the attorney general to “seek dismissal with prejudice… of all pending indictments against individuals for their conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Here’s a look at the Trump pardon recipients who called the Golden State home, in no particular order:

Evan Neumann is one of the few J6ers who never had his day in court. He left the country and He was granted asylum in Belarusbut he was still considered a wanted person by the FBI. He notice that includes him as a fugitive had disappeared from the FBI website on Tuesday morning.

Kenneth Armstrong III is an aquaponics farmer who started a vegetable farm in Half Moon Bay a decade ago. He was sentenced to a total of two weeks in jail for trespassing. He went from posting on social media about the “incredible day” to changing his mind and now views what happened on Jan. 6 as “dark,” his attorney wrote in court papers. When federal agents asked him for video from that day, he provided it and said, “I’m glad I could be of help.”

Mariposa Castro, also known as Imelda Acosta, gained a “positive image” from Trump after he almost accidentally hit her and her husband with a golf ball at the Pebble Beach course in 2006, and went on to support his candidacy. to the presidency, according to court records. He attended the demonstration at the Capitol out of curiosity and regrets going inside. The owner of a yoga studio in Gilroy at the time of her arrest, she does not eat meat and “stands for peace and love,” her attorney said in court papers. But prosecutors noted that on a livestream that day, she said, “We showed it to them. We show them all. Showed this. “The war has just begun.” They gave him 45 days in jail.

Daniel Goodwyn, a self-described freelance journalist who got one year of supervised release after his lawyer argued that “as a person with autism he had no pieces to put together while outside that indicated that he could not be” in the capitol. He was identified as a tech worker from San Francisco and later used in fundraising efforts by Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Daniel Shaw, a Santa Rosa resident in his 50s, received a two-year probation sentence for entering the Capitol building with his teenage son. Shaw, a former operating engineer who was forced to stop working due to bone spurs and other injuries, later agreed to an interview with the FBI. There, prosecutors say he recounted that Jan. 6 “felt like what he imagined a religious revival would feel like.”

This is a developing report. Please check back for updates.

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