In his sentencing memo Thursday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney made it clear why he was letting Tyler Laube off lightly.

It wasn’t just because of what Laube did or didn’t do – the defendant had already confessed to beating a journalist at a 2017 Southern California rally and pleaded guilty to violating riot laws as part of a white supremacist gang.

Laube deserved a light sentence, Carney said, because prosecutors should have focused on leftist groups.

In a 22-page memo, Carney repeatedly said prosecutors have “ignored” violence committed by Antifa and instead focused on targeting people like Laube – Trump supporters and members of the far right.

The federal judge’s strong words – and clear political bent – are as unusual as they are uninformed, legal experts told USA TODAY.

He’s really gone off the deep end,” said John Donohue, a professor at Stanford Law School.

  • Hegar@kbin.social
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    7 months ago

    “Sentencing Mr. Laube to additional incarceration would only increase the disparity between his punishment and the lack of punishment (and prosecution) members of far-left groups who have committed the same violent conduct received,” Carney [the judge!] wrote. The sentence: time served, 35 days, rather than the six months prosecutors had sought.

    For punching a journalist on camera, having gone to the protest with the intention to commit violence as part of a right wing fight club.