Prosecutors want jail time for N.J. woman who entered U.S. Capitol during riot – NJ.com

Federal prosecutors have suggested 30 days of incarceration for an Essex County woman who’s pleaded guilty to being at the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 of this year.

In a sentencing memo filed in her case, a prosecutor also suggests a $500 fine for Rasha Abual-Ragheb. The Fairfield resident pleaded guilty in August to parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol – a misdemeanor.

She is scheduled to be sentenced next week, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Her lawyer will argue for no time behind bars.

The memo in Abual-Ragheb’s case, filed this past weekend, comes a few days after the court’s chief judge, Beryl Howell, criticized federal prosecutors on Jan. 6 cases for offering weak plea bargains of misdemeanors to some of the hundreds of defendants charged with nonviolence at the riot.

The resulting pleas are tying the hands of judges from giving them stiffer sentences, said Howell, according to CNN. The judge said some of prosecutors’ decisions were “baffling” and “peculiar” for a case – an insurrection, she said, that was the “crime of the century.”

The chief judge’s remarks came in a case in which a defendant had already pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and prosecutors suggested he be sentenced to three months behind bars, CNN reported. The charge carries a maximum of six months – as does Abual-Ragheb’s charge.

Howell, though, went lower, sentencing that suspect to three months of house arrest and three years of probation, to comply with prosecutors recommending probation for other rioters in comparable situations, and that federal judges are required to give similar punishments in similar cases, CNN explained.

In Abual-Ragheb’s case, prosecutors are arguing for 30 days in jail to send a message of deterrence, even though her case would suggest non incarceration.

The prosecutor wrote in the memo that Abual-Ragheb has told federal probation authorities that she, “has a difficult life, suffering abuse both as a child and an adult. She is also raising two minor children as the sole custodial parent.”

And she has no prior contacts with law enforcement as an accused, and did not engage in any violence on Jan. 6 and did not damage any property.

“Although her time inside the building was brief—approximately 2 and a 1/2 minutes—while inside she posed proudly for a photograph, which she posted on social media later that night,” the memo says.

“Most significantly, [Abual-Ragheb] used social media to spread false information about the 2020 Presidential election and repeatedly endorsed violence. In one particular post she urged others to bring firearms with them when they went to D.C. on January 6. And after the riot she defiantly announced on social media that she was ready to ‘burn’ America.”

“When finally arrested, on January 19, 2021, she insisted she had done nothing wrong,” the memo says.

Before the riot, Abual-Ragheb posted on social media that if Trump did not win, it would be a “civil war” and indicated a willingness to engage in violence.

Words matter, prosecutors say.

“These statements demonstrate that specific deterrence is an appropriate consideration in this case,” they say in the memo.

Prosecutors say Jan. 6 defendants will face a wide range of punishment, from probation to years in prison, and urged the judge in Abual-Ragheb’s case, Carl J. Nichols, to sentence her based on her circumstances. While she only entered the Capitol, a short jail sentence is warranted, they said.

And, prosecutors say, cognizant of other cases, they are asking Nichols to heed the words of another federal judge hearing Jan. 6 cases, Judge Royce Lamberth, who said in another case: “I don’t want to create the impression that probation is the automatic outcome here because it’s not going to be.”

Abual-Ragheb’s lawyer, Washington D.C.-area defense attorney Elita C. Amato, said her client showed up to the rally wearing a tutu.

“She was not prepared for a civil war nor intended to be a part of one,” Amato told NJ Advance Media. “I will be opposing any jail time for Rasha. It is not warranted in this situation.”

Abual-Ragheb was the second New Jersey resident to plead guilty for a role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Earlier in August, Scott Fairlamb, of Sussex County, pleaded guilty to assaulting police and obstruction. He is also scheduled to be sentenced next week.

In all, 24 people who live or have strong connections to the Garden State have been charged in the Capitol attack.

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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.