I am so sorry to have to start your week with this startling and awful piece of news. But Matthew Perna, one of the defendants charged in the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, hanged himself in his garage Sunday morning.

The Story Must Be Told

With the wall-to-wall coverage of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the sad story of one victim of our “justice” system won’t get much attention in the mainstream media — perhaps not even in the conservative media — but it must be told. Julie Kelly at American Greatness broke the story early Sunday, with a tweet:

Getting reports a January 6 defendant just committed suicide. If confirmed, this defendant committed no violent crime and walked through an open door with Capitol Hill police present. Biden’s DOJ has tried to destroy so many lives over the past year — they may have another victim.

She went on:

If what I am hearing is true, the Biden regime and news media have blood on their hands. [She mentioned that at least one other Jan. 6 defendant has committed suicide.] When confirmed, this story should outrage every single American. And when I say these prosecutors are sadistic, I mean it.

Sunday afternoon, Kelly did confirm that Perna, 37, had killed himself, and she tweeted: “This is true. I cannot express the rage I feel after speaking with his family. More on this tomorrow.”

What Was Matthew Perna’s “Crime?”

But she went ahead and wrote more on Sunday, offering more details on his specific case. Apparently, all the man did was walk through an open door on the Senate side of the building, along with hundreds of other people, as Capitol Police stood to the side. This is seen in the security video that was finally released in October over the objections of Biden’s “Justice” Department.

Perna was completely nonviolent and vandalized nothing. He left, Kelly said, after about 20 minutes, though the original complaint says he was there for just 5-10 minutes. Oh, but he was — gasp! — wearing a red “MAGA” hoodie sweatshirt, which some would consider the mark of a violent domestic terrorist as well as a capital (Capitol?) crime.

Less than two weeks later, Perna learned he was on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list for January 6 participants, and he immediately contacted the local FBI field office and voluntarily submitted to questioning.

Acting swiftly, on January 18, six FBI agents arrived at his house and arrested him. On February 25, a grand jury indicted him on four counts.

“They Broke Him”

Julie Kelly was able to speak Sunday with his devastated aunt, Geri Perna, who told her he had suffered a year of “legal and public torture.” His hometown paper, The Herald — that’s Sharon, Pennsylvania — would publish articles on its social media account about him, she said, and he would receive “horrible and brutal” replies.

(We saw that by Sunday night, The Herald had already posted his brief death notice. The funeral is Wednesday.)

Perna’s aunt said through her sobs that “they broke him.” Her nephew “had run out of hope. I know he couldn’t take it any more.”

A Sadistic Prosecution

According to a story in The Post Millennial, Perna had been indicted on four counts: Obstruction of an Official Proceeding and Aiding and Abetting; Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building. It sure seems that the only thing he might have actually done was the second one, Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building — and apparently he hadn’t even known it was restricted. He also maintained that he hadn’t intended to go into the building but was pushed inside by the crowd. Even so, in December he went ahead and pleaded guilty to all four charges.

Together, these four charges can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison (!) and a fine of $250,000, plus some additional penalties. Sentencing had been scheduled for March 3, which is also the anniversary of his mother’s death seven years ago.

But the U.S. attorney in Washington D.C. who is handling all the January 6 cases, Matthew Graves, asked for a delay in sentencing so he could make sure all the defendants were “punished equally.” He requested “additional time for the Government’s internal review process to be completed.” From what Graves and his prosecution team have written about their approach to these cases, specifically the “obstruction” charge, it might be assumed from this that they were looking at strategies for treating all defendants equally harshly, as “domestic terrorists” and threats to democracy. Kelly’s report has the specifics.

Independent journalist Tayler Hansen, who was inside the Capitol that day and captured video evidence of the actions surrounding Ashli Babbitt’s death, quoted Perna’s family as saying prosecutors had informed him they would be pursuing additional charges, and that Perna just “couldn’t take another day.”

A Deafening Silence

Our friend Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway Movement for those fed up with the Democrat Party, was outside the Capitol that day and also faced prosecution/persecution by the “Justice” Department. He was arrested on January 25 of last year after the FBI had investigated his social media feeds, and he cooperated with authorities and pleaded guilty in October to Class B misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

After his own experience, he sees very well how being targeted in this way can lead to the emotional destruction of a human being. “I don’t know Matthew Perna,” he tweeted, “haven’t studied his case or accusations against him. But he’s killed himself and I understand why. I had the same thoughts many times this past year. The deafening silence of Republicans & conservative media for ppl dragged through this hell is unbearable.”

Do you hear that, Republicans and conservative media?

This Should Never Happen in America

Another January 6 defendant, 61-year-old Marine John Anderson of St. Augustine, Florida, died last September while waiting for his day in court. We’ve been unsuccessful finding a cause of death for him, as it was not disclosed at the time — was it suicide? — but he maintained his innocence until his death.

This is another case of someone not entering the Capitol complex of his own accord; he was pushed forward into the tunnel by the crowd and then brought farther inside by Metro Police after being rendered unable to breathe by a direct hit in the face with pepper spray. (The protester who was wielding the spray, aiming at cops, hasn’t been charged.)

Anderson’s attorney, Marina Medvin, has set up a page telling his story. I encourage you to read about him and remember him — and the outrageous way he was treated. This should never happen in America, let alone to someone who did nothing wrong and who had loved and served his country.

Upon his death, the government dismissed all charges against him.

 

Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and longtime conservative commentator on issues in culture and current events. A New York Times best-selling author, he hosts the weekly talk show Huckabee on TBN. 

Originally published at MikeHuckabee.com. Reprinted with permission.