A defendant from the incident on January 6 wrote to Sen. Jeff Merkley to claim that he entered the Democrat’s Senate office on that day with “zero malevolent intent” after scaling a Capitol building window.
Francis Connor, the defendant, has admitted to participating in disorderly behavior within the Capitol and is asking for a more compassionate sentence.
In a letter to Merkley, Connor claimed that when he entered Merkley’s office on a day when protestors clashed with Capitol police officers and stormed the building, he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He wrote to Merkely, “Unfortunately I found myself in the wrong location at the wrong time on January 6th, 2021.” I entered the Capitol Building out of pure curiosity for what was going on around me and not with any malicious purpose.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) received a letter from defendant Francis Connor (circled in blue) on January 6, 2020, stating that he entered the senator’s office with “zero ill intent.”
“I entered a senator’s office via an open door on my left and afterwards learned that it was your office,” I said. I was only caught on a live video browsing some books on your bookcase; nothing was taken or harmed,’ Connor said.
He also made reference to surveillance material that supported his conviction.
“That video and my whole appearance there that day are not how I’d want to be seen,” I said. I hold our nation’s officials in the greatest esteem, therefore if I had known it was a senator’s office, I wouldn’t have gone in,’ he said in a letter that stopped short of offering an apology.
“Sen. Merkley” So that you are aware that there was no malevolent purpose behind my actions that day, I wanted to send this letter to you in good faith,’ he added.
Charge-related records and video evidence shed light on Connor’s actions that day. He reacted to another defendant with an obscenity after seeing on Instagram that authorities were collecting up persons who entered the capital.
Connor wrote the letter as he seeks leniency in sentencing
Merkley and other lawmakers were in the Capitol to perform their official duty, counting the votes certified by states in the presidential election
Connor’s defense was harmed by an Instagram message where he said ‘I was in the Capitol’ and used an expletive when told agents were on the lookout for those who breached the building
After the FBI discovered Francis Connor and Antonio Ferrigno residing in Brooklyn, New York, and the investigators had evidence of images and recordings showing the two of them at the Capitol on the day of the uprising, they were both charged. He wrote, “I’ll do time for Donald,” referring to former President Donald Trump, whose allegations of election fraud the House committee thinks contributed to the violence.
He added the phrase “Civil War period” to another message.
When he commented, “I was in the Capitol building,” in response to his associate’s Instagram posts, he probably undermined any prospective lines of defense.
In a statement, John J. Gilsenan, his public defender, provided further details. Francis didn’t know Senator Jeff Merkley’s office belonged to him when he walked into it on January 6 while he was passing around the Capitol. Francis expressed sorrow for many things from that day, including disrespecting Senator Merkley by walking past his office, according to Yahoo News.
He said, “Francis detests this kind of rude conduct in others, therefore he sent the Senator an apologetic letter.”
In April, Connor entered a plea of guilty to many charges related to the disturbance.
These included parading in the Capitol, which was a lesser-level charge used against many of the rioters, disruptive behavior in a restricted facility, and disorderly conduct in general.
In August of last year, when Connor was a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident, the government accused him. In one picture, he was standing in the Capitol’s basement crypt while sporting a MAGA scarf and a Trump cap.