A man pardoned by President Donald Trump for his actions on Jan. 6 has been sentenced for possessing more than 100,000 child sexual abuse images and videos discovered in connection with his Capitol riot case.
Daniel Tocci was sentenced to four years in prison by U.S. District Judge Mark G. Mastroianni of the District of Massachusetts after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, according to a Justice Department news release Monday that made no mention of the Jan. 6 link. Tocci had been set to go to trial in the Jan. 6 case early last year, but it was dismissed after Trump granted mass clemency to roughly 1,500 defendants tied to the attack on the Capitol.
Federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo in the child pornography case that, in addition to the child sex abuse material, Tocci’s laptop “contained extremely disturbing images of violent acts, such as a cat being killed by being put in a blender, a male shooting a female in the head, a dog being beaten to death, and severed heads and limbs, as well as images and videos of bestiality.”
Before he pleaded guilty in September, Tocci’s attorney had argued for the dismissal of the child sexual abuse material case because “all the evidence” stemmed from the pardoned Jan. 6 case.
“The case against Mr. Tocci must be dismissed because the entirety of the evidence stems from a warrant that, according to President Trump, should never have issued,” Tocci’s attorney wrote in July. “President Trump recognized the ongoing nature of the injustice against Mr. Tocci, as the investigation took place over the course of four years, and the instant case is still being prosecuted.”
The Justice Department did not respond to the motion before Tocci’s attorney withdrew it ahead of a plea hearing.
Hellbound and Down 