A Lawyer For Jan. 6 Defendants Is Giving Her Clients Remedial Lessons In American History.
Last edited Wed Jun 23, 2021, 03:21 AM - Edit history (3)
'D.C. attorney H. Heather Shaner says that books and movies about the uglier parts of American history are “a revelation” for some of her Capitol attack clients.
At first glance, you might mistake them for student’s book reports: extra-wide margins, awkward prose, an inflated summary leading up to a personal takeaway. One report focuses on the film “Schindler’s List,” the other on the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. The report’s author also read the book “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and watched Netflix’s “Mudbound,” the PBS documentary “Slavery By Another Name,” and the History Channel’s “Burning Tulsa.” She, like many students, preferred to take the cinematic route. “I chose the movie whenever possible because it sinks in better,” she wrote. . .
This week, Morgan-Lloyd will become the first of nearly 500 defendants arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to face sentencing. She wants a judge to know she’s changed, and her book report-style filings are meant to illustrate that growth.
“I’ve lived a sheltered life and truly haven’t experienced life the way many have,” Morgan-Lloyd wrote to the judge. “I’ve learned that even though we live in a wonderful country things still need to improve. People of all colors should feel as safe as I do to walk down the street.”
The remedial social studies program that Morgan-Lloyd is following was created by her D.C.-based lawyer, H. Heather Shaner. Defense attorneys in the nation’s capital aren’t exactly a core part of Trump’s political base, as many have made clear in court filings in which they’ve blamed Trump for leading their clients to the edge by convincing them that the 2020 election was stolen. Some private D.C. defense lawyers told HuffPost after Jan. 6 that they were refusing to take Capitol attack cases outright. . .
Shaner said her clients had poor educations and knew very little about the country. Her two female clients took to the task with zeal, Shaner said, and got library cards for the first time in their lives.
“Both my women are like, ‘I never learned this in school. Why don’t I know about this?’” Shaner said. (A couple of the male clients weren’t quite as eager students, she said. “The men are very much like ‘Oh, I’ll get to it.’” But she said some of her male clients have been doing some self-education.)
The educational program is unlikely to have much of an ultimate impact in the sentencing of a defendant like Copeland, who is charged with assaulting officers at the Capitol. But for a client like Morgan-Lloyd ― an apologetic Capitol defendant not accused of any violence, who pleaded guilty only to a “parading” charge that a more typical protester might receive for interrupting a committee hearing ― it might have some impact.'>>>
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capitol-attack-defendants-history-lessons_n_60cba79be4b0a48ee253908e?
EDIT: 'Shaner has been practicing law in D.C. for decades: A search of digitized federal court records alone pulls up more than 200 cases dating back to 1990. She also occasionally teaches at her granddaughter’s school, where she says she’s spoken frankly about America’s origins.
“I’m allowed to say what the teachers aren’t, because I’m not an employee,” Shaner said. “I told them what my mom always told me, which is that this is the most wonderful country in the world, it’s been great for all kinds of immigrant groups, except for the fact that it was born of genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of people.”
A teacher at her granddaughter’s school, Shaner said, told her afterwards that she was overcome with emotion to hear a white person acknowledge that the country was funded through genocide and enslavement.'
= new reply since forum marked as read
on the order of how did they ever graduate from high school.
Ignorant populace, victimized by propaganda?
