Washington
Feds seek prison for rioter in ‘Camp Auschwitz’ sweatshirt
Federal prosecutors on Monday recommended a prison sentence of more than two months for a Virginia man who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt.
Photographs of Robert Keith Packer wearing the sweatshirt with the antisemitic message went viral after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. When FBI agents asked him why he wore the sweatshirt, he “fatuously” replied “because I was cold,” prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.
“Without expressing any remorse for being part of the rioting that day, Packer continually said it was ‘hard to tell’ which side people were on,” prosecutors wrote.
More than 100 police officers were injured when a mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked the Capitol while Congress was holding a joint session to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is scheduled to sentence Packer on May 23. He faces a maximum sentence of six months imprisonment after pleading guilty in January to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Prosecutors asked Nichols to sentence Packer to 75 days of incarceration followed by three years of probation and 60 hours of community service.
The words “Camp Auschwitz” were above an image of a human skull on Packer’s sweatshirt. It also bore the phrase “Work Brings Freedom,” a rough translation of the German words above the entrance gate to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland where Nazis killed more than 1 million men, women and children.
Packer, 57, of Newport News, Virginia, is a self-employed pipe fitter and a nonlicensed plumber. Prosecutors say he has a lengthy criminal record, with approximately 21 convictions, mostly for drunken driving and other motor vehicle violations.
Packer told the FBI that he was about 10 to 12 feet away from a rioter, Ashli Babbitt, when a police officer fatally shot her.
“He told the agents he heard the shot and saw her fall back from the window she was trying to climb through,” prosecutors wrote.
FBI agents arrested Packer a week after the riot. He has remained free pending his sentencing hearing.
Packer was evasive and minimized his actions when FBI agents interviewed him, according to prosecutors.
“He was more interested in relaying how he received hate mail and how he was ‘hounded’ by the media for interviews,” they wrote.
More than 790 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Nearly 300 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Over 170 of them have been sentenced.
Three months is the longest prison sentence so far among rioters who have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, according to an Associated Press review of court records. More than a dozen defendants who pleaded guilty to riot-related felonies have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to five years and three months.
Florida
Ban on protests in front of homes signed by Gov. DeSantis
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Anyone who protests in front of a private residence in Florida can face jail time and fines under a bill Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Monday.
The legislation makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to protest in a manner that is aimed at intentionally harassing or disturbing someone in their home. Violators face 60 days in jail and fines of up to $500.
Protesters can only be arrested after ignoring law enforcement’s orders to disperse, however.
The governor said the new law will prevent protests in Florida like those waged by abortion rights protesters in front of U.S. Supreme Court justices’ homes in Virginia.
“Sending unruly mobs to private residences, like we have seen with the angry crowds in front of the homes of Supreme Court justices, is inappropriate,” DeSantis said in an email to news agencies. “This bill will provide protection to those living in residential communities and I am glad to sign it into law.”
Some Democrats opposed the bill, arguing it infringes on people’s First Amendment rights to free speech.
The law is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.
Washington
Starbucks will cover travel for workers seeking abortions
Starbucks said Monday it will pay the travel expenses for U.S. employees to access abortion and gender-confirmation procedures if those services aren’t available within 100 miles of a worker’s home.
The Seattle coffee giant said it will also make the travel benefit available to the dependents of employees who are enrolled in Starbucks’ health care plan. Starbucks has 240,000 U.S. employees but the company didn’t say what percentage of them are enrolled in the its health care plan.
Starbucks is among the most high-profile companies to have adopted a travel benefit in the wake of a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that would abolish the nationwide right to abortion.
“Regardless of what the Supreme Court ends up deciding, we will always ensure our partners have access to quality health care,” Sara Kelly, Starbucks acting executive vice president of partner resources, wrote in a letter to employees.
Amazon is also covering up to $4,000 in travel and lodging expenses for employees seeking non-life threatening medical treatments, including abortions and gender-confirming procedures. According to messages sent to staff, the benefit has been in place since the beginning of this year and applies if the procedure is not available within 100 miles of an employee’s home.
Tesla also said earlier this month it would cover travel costs for employees seeking out-of-state abortions. Some companies, including Levi Strauss & Co., Yelp and Citigroup, have pledged to pay travel costs for Texas employees who seek abortions, in response to a 2021 Texas law banning abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy.
But many other companies, including Walmart and Facebook, have stayed silent on the hot-button issue for now.
Starbucks said the travel benefit —which expands existing coverage for abortion and gender-confirmation procedures —would be extended to employees on the company’s health care plan even if they work in stores that have voted to unionize. At least 69 of the company’s U.S. stores have voted to unionize since the end of 2021, and many more have petitioned the federal government to hold union elections. Starbucks opposes unionization.
Earlier this month, Starbucks angered labor organizers when it announced enhanced pay and benefits for workers at its non-union stores. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said at the time that the company isn’t legally allowed to offer benefits at union stores, since those stores must negotiate their own contracts.
Starbucks shares fell 4% to close at $72.42 Monday.
