‘Having viewed the question afresh, the court now agrees with the defendants,’ U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said.
Two people who were prosecuted for actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach and later pardoned by President Donald Trump are eligible to receive full refunds of restitution payments and fines made in relation to the earlier criminal cases, a federal judge ruled on Dec. 3.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s ruling marked a reversal from one he delivered a few months earlier, when he rejected a bid for refunds.
“Having viewed the question afresh, the Court now agrees with Defendants,” Boasberg said.
As a judge for the District of Columbia, one of the most important circuits in the United States, Boasberg oversaw many cases related to Jan. 6 prosecutions under President Joe Biden.
In a memo released on Dec. 3, Boasberg outlined the case history for Cynthia Ballenger and her husband, Christopher Price. The couple had both been tried and convicted on misdemeanor charges in connection with the events of Jan. 6.
As part of their sentencing, they were ordered to pay hundreds of dollars in assessment fees and restitution.
Before receiving a pardon upon Trump’s return to office—when he pardoned around 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants—the couple had been attempting to appeal their conviction.
Earlier this year, they asked Boasberg to approve a refund of $570 each for the fees levied in relation to the conviction, citing their pardon.
In July, Boasberg rejected the appeal.
Ballenger and Price later asked the court to reconsider the ruling, which opened the way for this week’s decision.
With the new order, the two are cleared to be fully refunded by the government.
In the memo, Boasberg tied the reversal to procedural questions, maintaining his earlier ruling that a pardon alone did not entitle an individual to recompense from the government for fees incurred in relation to the conviction.
“By itself, defendants’ pardon therefore cannot unlock the retroactive return of their payments that they ask for here,” Boasberg wrote.
By Joseph Lord
