A 72-year-old great grandmother who was facing prison time for her involvement with the January 6, 2021 riots is free to go after a four-and-a-half-hour sentencing hearing in a Washington, D.C. federal court this week. On Monday, grandmother Rebecca Lavrenz was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of house arrest, and the mandatory use of an ankle monitor. Lavrenz was also ordered to pay a $103,000 fine for her involvement.
Lavrenz has since returned to her home in the Colorado Springs area home where she will no longer be permitted to use the internet, and will face constant monitoring to ensure that she does not use it. The ban extends to the use of email, social media, browsing the web, and even making bill payments online.
Why Was She There?
Lavrenz was one of many thousands of people who felt compelled to join the protests on January 6. Supporters of former President Donald Trump argue that the presidential election held the November earlier was not free and fair – and while many people chose to express their concerns peacefully, others chose violence. Some other protesters also fell foul of the law by following large crowds of people into the U.S. Capitol building. Lavrenz was one of those people.
Speaking to The Gazette, Lavrenz said that she felt compelled by God to join the protests.
“God led me to go there and into the building to stand up for my First Amendment rights to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” she said.
Throughout the process, Lavrenz has repeatedly professed that she didn’t believe she did anything wrong, and that her actins were justified. According to court documents, prosecutors originally argued that Lavrenz should face 10 months in prison over her comments about what she says is an inherent bias in the judicial system.
““I’ve been exposing truths about the court system — I have a website, I’ve been doing interviews. I’ve seen corruption and am being transparent about that, and they think I’m being too critical,” Lavrenz is reported to have said.
What do you think – does it make sense to ban a great grandmother from posting online? Or even paying bills online?
