Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas blasted U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland over the leniency granted to a Black Lives Matter protester who pleaded guilty to arson that led to the death of a man.
Cotton posted his letter to Garland demanding he answer whether political affinity for BLM protests was involved in the sentencing of Montez Lee.
On May 28, 2020, Montez Lee set fire to a pawn shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and murdered a 30-year-old father of five.
In August 2020, the United States Attorney’s Office in Minnesota indicted Lee on one count of Arson and he pleaded guilty on July 22, 2021. The sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of around 20 years. But the U.S. Attorney’s office filed a Sentencing Memorandum asking for half this time. Most shockingly, the U.S. Attorney defended Montez Lee and expressed sympathy for his murderous arson because Lee’s crime was committed during the BLM riots.
Showing leniency towards a career criminal who committed murder is bad enough. But justifying the murder because the career criminal shares the Biden Administration’s politics is beyond the pale.
Cotton went on to demand that Garland answer his questions about the possible political motivation behind the lenient sentencing.
Authorities said that Lee and one of his associated had posted video of their committing arson on Facebook. Surveillance video also showedLee standing in front of the burning pawn shop saying, “[expletive] this place. We’re gonna burn this [expletive] down.”Lee was never charged in the death of the man despite a medical examiner finding that he died as a direct result of the fire.
BLM supporters and activists tried to raise money to help Lee, and theywrote letters to the judge in his support before he pleaded guilty the arson charge.
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