By: Morgan Reitzel, Follow South Jersey Intern
MEDFORD, N.J. – Stephanie Hazelton, a 51 year old mother, receives 10 days in jail and three months of home confinement after pushing and cheering as rioters surged over police offices in the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
Before the riot, Hazelton was known for her republican activism and led a protest in Trenton demanding the state reopens during the pandemic in 2020.
With authorities originally charging Hazelton with six different offenses, she ultimately ended up pleading guilty to interfering with law enforcement officers, aiding and abetting, and a felony. The federal prosecutors wanted 11 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Countering that, her attorney argued for three months of home detention and two years probation.
On June 1,the federal judge in Washington D.C. also sentenced Hazelton to two thousand dollars in restitution and two years of supervised release.
Hazelton’s attorney, Nicholas D. Smith, says that “she deeply regrets her conduct and apologizes to the law enforcement officers who struggled in that chaotic scene.” He also argued that since she never made it inside, that she was being charged solely for her words.
Additionally, Smith argues that Hazelton is her two sons primary caregiver, ages 11 and 12, and attends homeschool classes at a local church that she attends because they are learning cooperatively. It is important to note that her husband would be unable to step in because he has to travel a lot for his job and is the primary financial support of the family. If Hazelton would be going to prison, her husband would lose his job.
Jeff Hazleton wrote to the judge and prosecutors that his wife would not hurt a fly and talked about when his wife trapped 30 mice and their mice and wanted to keep them together as a family before their release. He pleads to the judge and prosecutors to have mercy on his wife because she has such remorse for the terrible incident and expresses that to him repeatedly with accepting responsibility for her actions.
Federal prosecutor Christopher D. Amore replies to Hazelton’s husband’s statement that “she would never hurt a fly” by reminding the court that Hazelton shouted, “More men! Let’s go! Move forward! They cannot stop us all!” She directed the rioters into the building’s entryway and advised them to violently crash with officers blocking the entryway. Showing her lack of remorse after the riot, Hazelton wrote in one of her facebook messages, “it was quite a battle today, sad day for America but I am glad I was there,” was one of her Facebook messages. The first shot has been fired of the revolution!
Amore reveals that while he sympathizes with Hazelton’s family circumstances, she still deserves to do time in jail because, “Sadly, crime carries consequences. That fact cannot be a carte blanche to escape the consequences of criminal conduct, past or future,” Amore wrote. “Moreover, her family circumstances also did not stop or prevent her involvement in the riot in the first place.”
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