[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]Nevertheless, these people said, some in federal law enforcement are concerned that charging people solely with unlawful entry, when they are not known to have committed any other bad acts, could lead to losses if they go to trial.[/COLOR][COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]“If an old man says all he did was walk in and no one tried to stop him, and he walked out and no one tried to stop him, and that’s all we know about what he did, that’s a case we may not win,” one official said.
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[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]Another official noted most of those arrested so far have no criminal records.
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[COLOR=var(--color-ui-gray-darkest)]Meanwhile, defense lawyers for some of those charged are contemplating something akin to a “Trump defense” — that the president or other authority figures gave them permission or invited them to commit an otherwise illegal act. [/COLOR]Such a defense might not forestall charges but could be effective at trial or sentencing.
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Prosecutors have other options. For rioters with no previous criminal records or convictions and whose known behavior inside the Capitol was not violent or destructive, the government could enter into deferred plea agreements, a diversion program akin to pretrial probation in which prosecutors agree to drop charges if a defendant commits no offenses over a certain time period.