Robert Dennis

After the speeches, he headed to the capital with throngs of fellow supporters. There Robert was quickly engaged with the police.  It was brutal and he came out of the fray badly damaged.

As expected, the government’s story and his story, with witnesses, are completely different.  Police claim that he ‘punched an officer in the face’ and tried to steal his riot baton.  Robert’s story is just the opposite.  He did not assault an officer or grabhis baton. He was defending himself and reached for the baton to fend off the blows. Hewas beaten badly by a handful of policemen, pinning him to the ground and repeatedly striking him in the head and face.His injuries left his arm was temporarily paralyzed. Here’s how the account was reported; Authorities said Dennis approached a line of Metropolitan Police officers who struggled to keep the mob away from the Capitol. He pointed at them and “appeared to place his hand” one of the officers, court records show. When an officer pushed him away with a baton, Dennis grabbed the baton, the FBI said. Assistant United States Attorney Nialah Ferrer said in a legal filing that after grabbing the officer’s baton, Dennis “took an officer to the ground” and knocked the baton out of his hands.

It goes on the mention that he continued to ‘roll and kick his legs towards officers’. He concedes that was the case, as most human beings would do if a group of strong men were beating you.  That detail is something that prosecutors and official court documents consistently fail to mention.  Robert’s defense attorney, Allen Orenberg, put it this way in rebuttal to the prosecution’s assertions, “No police officer was injured by Mr. Dennis.  In contrast, my client was severely injured by police officers. He was unable to move any part of his body while numerous police officers continued to pin him to the ground and yelled in his ear.” 

After his arrest, Robert told agents that he was subjected to a “Rodney King” moment where he was beaten and sprayed by officers.” King, a Black man, was beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991 in an incident caught on video. The officers were acquitted the following year and riots broke out in Los Angeles.But these facts did not stop the FBI from hauling Robert off to the D.C. gulag. 

On October 20^th, 2021, FBI agents arrived at his home in Garland and took him into custody.A month later, Robert was charged with; two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, which are all felonies, civil disorder and three misdemeanor charges including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds and entering a restricted building or grounds and act of physical violence in the U.S. Capitol grounds or buildings. These are virtually the same recycled charges brought against all the J6 prisoners. It’s as if the prosecutors are on a loop, without nuance or consideration for what many of the protestors attest that they were merely acting in self-defense. 

At trial, Robert said, “God knew why he went to Washington, D.C. and that going was a righteous thing to do,” court records say, and that hebelieved that the Capitol grounds were open to the public that day like other parts of the city.  According to Mr. Orenberg, “Mr. Dennis expected the same peaceful rally to be carried on at the Capitol after the speech, but what he saw instead were officers pushing and hitting innocent citizens invited to peacefully have their voices heard.”  Robert was wrong, and it was a sad day for our Republic.  He is now serving a 36-month sentence.