A Capitol rioter who proved his guilt by live-streaming his activities on January 6 had a plea deal all ready to go—all he had to do was plead guilty.
Instead, he pleaded innocent and blew his chance at a reduced sentence.
Far-right influencer Anthime Joseph Gionet, known online as "Baked Alaska," was being charged with just one misdemeanor count as part of the plea deal, but he will now be charged with a felony and face a criminal trial which have not gone well for other rioters.
Gionet's stunt left the internet slack-jawed.
baked alaska just threw away a misdemeanor deal out of nazi stupidity and faces a hefty sentence since, you know, he streamed himself committing half a dozen crimespic.twitter.com/4biiKqHWcZ— gryphoneer (@gryphoneer) 1652298199
Gionet was originally charged with more serious crimes.
Gionet's plea deal meant he would need to plead guilty—a requirement for plea deals unless specifically stated otherwise—to one single misdemeanor charge for having "willfully and knowingly paraded, demonstrated, and picketed" inside the Capitol building, a charge that would typically result in a very light sentence.
But when Judge Emmet G. Sullivan asked for his guilty plea, Gionet seemed intent on pointing out he believed he was innocent, seemingly unaware this amounts to a plea of not guilty.
He told Judge Sullivan:
"I wanted to go to trial, but the prosecutors [said] if I [went] to trial, they would put a felony on me, so I think this is probably the better route."
"I believe I'm innocent ..."
According to BuzzFeed News reporter Zoe Tillman, who was in the courtroom, Judge Sullivan simply replied:
"Well fine, pick a trial date."
Oo boy.\nSullivan: "Why do you wish to plead guilty?"\nGionet: "I wanted to go to trial but the prosecutor said if I didn't [sic] go to trial they would put a felony on me so I think this is probably the better route. I believe I'm innocent"\nSullivan: "Well fine, pick a trial date"— Zoe Tillman (@Zoe Tillman) 1652289648
Sullivan set the trial for March 2023, at which Gionet will now face federal charges for crimes he filmed himself committing.
As several experts pointed out, comments Gionet has made about his plea deal indicate he has likely already cooperated with prosecutors in providing information about the insurrection.
If he goes to trial, that information can now be used against him.
This is one of many hints that Baked Alaska had to cooperate TO GET the parading plea he almost just blew up.\n\nThat means he has already cooperated some with prosecutors. If he goes to trial, prosecutors can use that information against him.https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1408539298769608708\u00a0\u2026— emptywheel (@emptywheel) 1652293939
Twitter, of course, had a field day with Gionet's gaffe.
There was very little sympathy for him.
Given that video of insurrectionist Tim Gionet (\u201cBaked Alaska\u201d) exhibiting awareness on 1/5 that the Capitol would be stormed on 1/6 went viral, it\u2019s astonishing he got a misdemeanor deal and *more* astonishing he just screwed up that deal by declaring himself \u201cinnocent\u201d in court— Seth Abramson (@Seth Abramson) 1652296772
Can't help but remember this hilarious self own after Baked Alaska just messed up his own plea deal in federal courtpic.twitter.com/88I3a08Mju— all concerned parents matter (@all concerned parents matter) 1652292050
@People4Words/Twitter
@People4Words/Twitter
Lol right-wing streamer Baked Alaska ruined his own Jan. 6th plea deal today when he declared himself 'innocent.'https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-nixes-jan-6-plea-right-wing-streamer-baked-alaska-declares-innoc-rcna28245\u00a0\u2026— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D) 1652293380
Baked Alaska just talked himself into a trial and fucked up his plea deal.\n\n"Why are you pleading guilty?"\n"Because the prosecutor said he'd charge me with a harsher crime."\n"But are you guilty?"\n"No."\n"OK let's pick a trial date."\n"...wait...wait...wait..."— QuarantinedCoof (@QuarantinedCoof) 1652289664
Oh my god. His guilty plea would have put him behind bars for only like 2 months.\n\nYesterday, I was in Baked Alaska's cozytv stream suggesting not to take the plea deal so he'd actually face long consequences.\n\nThat's me with Bowen Turner's mugshot as my profile pic. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1524475447777673216\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/EGxkviN5DD— Danesh (@Danesh) 1652307519
I am just shuddering with sympathy at the thought of having to represent Baked Alaska through a criminal case. God bless those lawyers for soldiering on.— FreshMouthHat (@FreshMouthHat) 1652290892
Do I have any sympathy whatsoever for Baked Alaska? No. Have I been the lawyer standing next to a guy who said exactly this to a judge? Yes.https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1524439391359356928\u00a0\u2026— Don Zeko (@Don Zeko) 1652291552
ICYMI, here's the key exchange in the aborted Baked Alaska plea hearing today. \n\nGenuinely the funniest moment of a Jan6 prosecution so far.https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1524439105391796226\u00a0\u2026— emptywheel (@emptywheel) 1652300620
Half-Baked Alaska blew his own plea deal.https://twitter.com/Christo12919382/status/1524523443558957056\u00a0\u2026— Man with a cave (@Man with a cave) 1652309855
After discussions with Gionet's attorneys, lead prosecutor Liz Aloi granted him 60 days to reconsider his plea.
Godspeed to his lawyers.