Insurgent says smoking weed hit him on January 6th, storming the U.S. Capitol

Picture above (also note the person spraying the can)

A lawyer for an insurgent who moved into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 may prepare to argue that his client’s crimes were committed under the influence of marijuana.

Reefer madness, anyone?

Here’s what the lawyer who represents Robert Gieswein (24) – who probably has six crimes against him – said in a motion about his client’s actions on the day before the attack on the Capitol, according to Leafly:

“Mr. Gieswein was at Freedom Plaza in the precinct with other Trump supporters. He was approached by someone with a video camera who engaged him in a conversation. He had just smoked a considerable amount of marijuana, and his high is in its extended.” Pupils and his grin, as well as the rambling comments that followed, when asked why he came, he said “to keep President Trump in office.” But he hasn’t outlined a specific plan, especially one Plan to use violence. “

According to this logic, if the Coloradan smoked weed, he was unable to plan a riot. Riiiight.

Certainly, cannabis use seems to have been a constant topic among the people who attacked the Capitol that day. Eduardo Nicolas Alvear González earned his nickname “Capitol Rotunda Doobie Smoker” by talking about the type of smoke he smoked while standing under the famous Capitol dome. A photo by French intelligence agent Saul Loeb – who captured some of the day’s most iconic shots – shows a woman in a MAGA hat carrying an American flag all over her ass on a pole and vaporizing an unidentified substance while on a desk goes through someone’s things in Nancy Pelosi’s office.

In Gieswein’s case, the defense might have a hard time proving he was too stoned to function. The day after his Freedom Playa High, he was in the January 6 rally that turned into a failed coup.

According to federal charges, he was wearing “full paramilitary equipment, including a helmet, protective vest and goggles,” and carried a chemical irritant aerosol can and a baseball bat.

Although his attorney goes on to say that he was “significantly less violent and unsettling than many others in the Capitol on Jan. 6,” Gieswein is actually accused of spraying the Capitol police with chemical irritants – presumably Oleoresin Capsicum (“OC”) spray – three times and also hit a policeman to be on the safe side.

The man is also accused by federal authorities of “penetrating through the first broken window of this building just moments after it was broken with a stolen police shield,” on the day of the attacks at around 2:14 pm, suggesting that he a . played leading role in the violence of the day.

His six federal criminal charges include assaulting, resisting, or interfering with an officer with a dangerous weapon; Destruction of state property; and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a lethal weapon.

The prosecutor stated that Gieswein had indicated that he had brought his weapons with him to use “against the Antifa”, but “there is no evidence that ‘Antifa’ was even present when the defendant used his spray”.

Giewein surrendered to Teller County Jail in Colorado on January 18 and told local people that he was a “constitutionalist”, had done nothing wrong that day at the Capitol, and “mentioned that he basically wanted this Military takes over the country and “restores the Constitution.”

It’s hard to blame weed – but it’s also a good time to realize that cannabis use does little to shape political attitudes.