‘Nearly 50 percent … believe that a fair punishment for Jan. 6ers is life in prison or the death penalty.’
For fear of being judged by biased jurors, Jan. 6 defendants have been trying to have their trials moved to venues other than the District of Columbia for three years.
Government prosecutors and judges insist there is no evidence to prove that they can’t get a fair trial in Washington.
There is now.
A survey (pdf) conducted by Triton Polling and Research between Jan. 1-8 and obtained exclusively by The Epoch Times reveals an extreme level of bias among potential jurors living in Washington toward anyone who participated in the protests at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Of the 422 “jury eligible residents” surveyed, 27.5 percent describe Jan. 6 protestors as “insurrectionists.” Others describe them as “criminals” (13 percent), “domestic terrorists” (14.9 percent), or “traitors” (11.6 percent).
The overwhelming majority also “strongly” (75 percent) or “somewhat agree” (14.4 percent) that former President Donald Trump is to blame for what happened, and 76.6 percent “strongly agree” that Mr. Trump’s supporters are racists.
Asked if they thought Jan. 6 was “an act of terrorism,” 63.6 percent said they “strongly agree.” Just 8 percent said they “strongly disagree.”
After informing survey participants that “the penalty for insurrection, treason, or committing an act of domestic terrorism is life imprisonment or death,” 26.9 percent said they “strongly agree” and 21.1 percent said they “somewhat agree” that those penalties would “be a fair punishment for anyone who participated in any of the events of January 6.”
“Regardless of what they did,” participants were asked if “anyone who participated in the events at the Capitol on January 6 should serve prison time.” Most (51.4 percent) said they “strongly agree” and 17.4 percent said they “somewhat agree.”
Just 10.9 percent said they “strongly disagree” and 11.3 percent said they “somewhat disagree.”
Asked if “Donald Trump and his supporters should be stopped a all costs,” 47.5 percent said they “strongly agree” and 21.1 percent said they “somewhat agree.” Far fewer (1.5 percent) said they “strongly disagree” or “somewhat agree” 6.4 percent).
