Jan. 6 appeals court not moved by Trump video exclusion

Insets, left to right: Yvonne St. Cyr (U.S. Department of Justice). Background: Then-President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File).

There was much discussion about a woman’s mental state in the federal district on Monday morning as a convicted Jan. 6 defendant aimed to prove that her riotous behavior was somehow unduly influenced by then-President Donald Trump‘s false claims of a stolen 2020 election.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, however, did not seem receptive to the notion that what the 45th president told his supporters at the “Stop the Steal” rally mattered much to the resulting chaos, destruction, and all-around maelstrom of lawbreaking.

Yvonne St. Cyr, 56, was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release, in September 2023 after being convicted in March of that year on six charges total including two felony counts of obstructing and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder. She was also convicted on four misdemeanor counts of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Now, St. Cyr’s appellate team says her trial was unfair, marred by both a constitutional defect and a heavy-handed judge who shoved his thumb on the scale for the prosecution.