“A Tale of an American Political Prisoner”

Part 13: The Federal Courthouse; Washington, DC

–The “OathKeeper 1” Trial: Closing Arguments–

by: Jessica Watkins (X: @J6ssicaWatkins)

A True Story; 100% verifiable with Courtroom Transcripts, Evidentiary Exhibits, Court Documents and Testimony.

The trial was finally ending! If you’ve read this far, I am sure YOU feel as glad as I did. It was unbearably tedious, and filled with rage inducing lies. I will never cease to be astonished by the corruption and guile of our Federal Government; their stated end-goal to imprison the innocent for the rest of our natural lives. By the time we reached the Closing Arguments, I was thoroughly exhausted. Waking up every morning at 4am, not returning back to the jail until 6:30-7pm. The anger at the audacity of the Department of Justice and the FBI. The restless sleep. During trial, I woke up every 30 minutes as the CO’s do their rounds; their keys jingling… a Pavlovian reaction triggering my mind to think they were coming to get me; their keys jingling as they prepared to open my cell door once more (a form of PTSD that I jokingly call “Key-TSD”). I’ll tell you this. Once I get out of prison, I will NEVER have a keychain again. Keys are a PTSD trigger for sure. My ankles were so swollen from 2 years of a lack of exercise and bad diet, that the ankle cuffs didn’t fit. So, the guards used Flex Cuffs on my ankles instead, which caused severe pain. And I suffered all of this, and the Government’s insults and lies, for 2+ months. When Opening Arguments started, I couldn’t wait for them to end already. When we filed into the room, it was PACKED! I had grown accustomed to the empty benches of the Gallery. Nobody gave two f***s about the arguments of the Defense. Nobody (but J6 Supporters from Freedom Corner and @SteveBaker) cared about the story from “the other side”. It was a ghost town for weeks during the Defense Case in Chief.

Now that the trial was coming to a close, it was a packed house again. Reporters with notebooks ready to capture any “juicy nugs” the Prosecution laid out, Sketch Artists already at work, making awful images of us. The DC Socialite rubberneckers had returned, eager to hear the Government wag their crooked finger at us. This was the Government’s (second to) last argument; their final opportunity to slander us before the Jury recessed to Deliberate. The Government would spare at no expense. Jeffery Nestler is overly dramatic; a squirmy little weasel of a man. Ask Guy Reffitt, Nestler was his Prosecutor too, and the guy is a complete joke. In Guy Reffitt’s trial, Nestler had to resort to buying his evidence from Amazon.com (as Biden says, “no joke, no no I’m not kidding”). My contempt for that guy is boundless. He pointed the finger at us dramatically, endlessly repeating his litany of lies, all of which had been debunked. Our Jury didn’t look the least bit impressed by his Closing Arguments. At one point, he even went so far as to accuse me of lying stating, “Ms. Watkins said she wasn’t having fun in the hallway, but look at this picture. She was positively beaming!” The image he chose to use was a still-frame from a video, paused in the middle of my coughing fit; snot running from my nose, spittle on my chin after retching on pepperspray. So, no. Not “beaming”, Jeff. Retching. This was the grade of testimony for his Closing Argument. I don’t remember much about the specifics, but I remember being angry to the point of veins distending from my neck and forehead. It was a rage inducing clownshow. Next for Closing Arguments came the Defense. Each of the attorneys proceeded, providing a snapshot of our charges, and of the facts we had laid out all through trial.

We had come to DC to protect VIP’s and Congressmen, had done background checks with the Secret Service, had a permit, had signed a contract to conduct the Security Detail, and there was a stage built in Area 8 of the Capitol Grounds for speeches. We thought the Certification of the Election had ended before we left the White House Ellipse. We conducted our Security Detail as planned, and I had said as much on the Zello recording. We had not breached barricades, witnessed assaults on Police, or participated in vandalism. Quite the opposite, we rescued the injured, rescued Police, stopped vandalism and assisted the Police in evacuating the Capitol. We left Capitol Grounds voluntarily. We never requested firearms or a QRF at any point. Each attorney insisted that our Jury find us Not Guilty on each of the charges. The only exception was MY attorney, who laid out a concise and explicit argument for why I was Not Guilty of everything but Impeding Officers charge, which I myself told the Jury that I had committed. For that charge, the Jury was instructed to find me Guilty (spoiler alert, they did). When Brad Guyer got up to present HIS Closing Argument, he stated why he had skipped over the Case in Chief for Kenny Harrelson. He didn’t need one, everything proving his client’s innocence had been done already, during the Government’s Case In Chief. That THEIR witnesses had already given him an alibi to prove he didn’t plot ANYTHING. His Closing Arguments was all that was needed. He showed images of Kenny escorting VIP’s, arms extended. He showed images of Kenny protecting Officer Harry Dunn, his arms extended to protect the Officer behind him. When the Defense Closing Arguments finally ended, I wanted to give a standing ovation. But then again, I may be biased in that regard. (:]) The Government was practically foaming at the mouth by now, but they still got to have the final word (they always do).

If I had to pick a word to describe their vibe, I’d use the word “petulant”. They had almost nothing to say that the Jury hadn’t already heard. They did sneak in a shot at the end, showing the text where Kelly Meggs said “DM me”. The Government stood there, dramatically pointing at the screen saying “Mr. Harrelson DID ask about the QRF. Here in this text, he asks, ‘Where is the QRF?’ and Mr. Meggs IMMEDIATELY responded by saying ‘DM me’, which shows that he had the intent.” I looked at Nestler, and then at the Jury like… “REALLY?! You decided to ADMIT you lied during MY testimony?! You tried to say Meggs was texting ME, and now that I made you look like an idiot you’re changing it up?!” Yup. Nestler pivoted on a dime, ignoring the fact Ms. Hughes tried to claim that Meggs told ME to DM him. Now he was saying it was Kenny. I couldn’t believe it, and I was hoping my Jury had a good memory, because that was some straight up bulls***. Nestler continued, “…but all of this is irrelevant, because Conspiracies can happen ‘in the moment’ and ultimately the Conspiracy started at the door. Because the Congress had evacuated, and because these Defendants had entered the building, this was an act of Obstruction. These facts are all you need to find these Defendants ***dramatically points at each of us slowly and deliberately*** GUILTY of all charges!”

 

***MASSIVE FACE-PALM***

Freakin’ wow, dude. Yeah. For nearly 2 years, they’ve been claiming that “Since as early as November 3rd, the Defendants have been plotting to Obstruct the Peaceful Transfer of Power”. But now that the truth was out there, all pink and naked; that there was no plot, plan or scheme; that the OathKeepers rescued Police, stopped vandalism, and helped the injured; that we obeyed all Lawful orders by Officers; that Kelly Meggs helped Police evacuate the Capitol; and that we left Capitol Grounds voluntarily. Now, their argument boiled down to “the Conspiracy started at the door, and because the Capitol had (already) been evacuated; because we ‘agreed’ to go inside, that it was an act of Obstruction.” So then, no different than anybody else who randomly wandered inside the Capitol peacefully that day? But that wasn’t stopping them from attempting to put us in prison for Life for it. They got in one final jab. A cheap shot about “breaking into the Capitol like it was Black Friday to steal a TV from Walmart”. It was so lame and pathetic, but I’m kinda pleased that my “Black Friday” line had chapped their asses. Man, they really HATED that line. When Nestler stepped down from the podium, I let out a massive sigh of relief. Finally this Third-World, Tin-Pot, Kangaroo-Court, bulls*** trial was over! Now the Jury had the solemn duty to deliberate and assemble a verdict. When the Courtroom Clerk said “All Rise” and the Judge stood up and left, we held our breath, and we filed from the room. Our literal lives were now in the hands of twelve DC Democrats, and we hoped they’d been paying rapt attention to the incessant lies they had been fed for 2.5 months.