(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In January 2022, Stefanie Chiguer was charged with four misdemeanors in relation to her participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill uprising. About three months later, Chiguer reached a plea deal, and was later sentenced to 36 months’ probation, 60 days’ home detention and 120 hours’ community service.
However, the federal court docket does not reflect what penalty the Justice Department sought for Chiguer, nor does it say when her sentencing hearing was. A coalition of media members have filed an application to unseal her records to obtain the details of her secretive sentencing.
“This motion seeks access to all such sealed or otherwise undocketed records related to Chiguer’s sentencing, including but not limited to: any sentencing memoranda filed by Chiguer or the Government; the transcript of Chiguer’s sentencing hearing; the Court’s Judgment reflecting any sentence or other penalties imposed on Chiguer; any other filings made in connection with Chiguer’s sentencing; any related motion to seal; and any sealing order,” the press coalition said in its Feb. 27 application.
“The public docket provides no explanation as to why, despite the strong presumption of transparency in this Circuit, these judicial records are not available to the public.”
According to the press coalition’s motion to unseal, the public docket in Chiguer’s case does not reflect that any sentencing memoranda was ever been filed, that any sentencing hearing has ever been held, or that any sentence has ever been issued.
The press coalition argued that it has a First Amendment right to cover Chiguer’s case.
In response to that application, the Justice Department filed sealed documents Wednesday—the docket doesn’t reflect what those documents say.
The Chiguer case is reminiscent to that of J6 convict Samuel Lazar, who received a secret, sweetheart plea deal—serving just 30 months imprisonment for pepper-spraying police and urging protestors to “take their guns.”
Like Chiguer, Lazar’s records were initially sealed until a coalition of press outlets successfully motioned to make them public.
When the records were unsealed in December, they showed that Lazar received a sweetheart deal because he was cooperating with the FBI against other Jan. 6 protestors. They also revealed that Lazar “was ready to testify” in a murder trial unrelated to Jan. 6, and that he was even a jailhouse snitch, according to NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
