Praying Great- Grandma Sentenced! DOJ Orders Peaceful, God-loving 72-Year-Old To Pay $103K And Half Year House Arrest

The "praying Grandma" of January 6th is but the latest casualty of our government's weaponized system of justice.

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On Monday, in yet another affront to America’s justice system, the Department of Justice sentenced a 72-year-old woman to a half year house arrest, with restrictions on her internet use, 12 month probation, and a $103,000 fine. The staggering fine reportedly represents the largest figure for a conviction on exclusively misdemeanor charges in American history. Even so, Lavrenz’s sentencing was more lenient than what the DOJ initially ordered: up to a year of prison time.

That Lavrenz is not able to use her internet while on house arrest is another outrageous assault on her constitutional rights, with many commentators calling it election interference. Typically, such draconian restrictions on internet usage are only reserved to criminals convicted on child pornography and sex trafficking charges — Lavrenz’s case stands as the first time a praying grandmother who peacefully exercised her First Amendment rights has been censored in such a heavy-handed manner, which is deeply worrisome.

Rebecca Lavrenz, who is known as the “J6 praying grandma,” never committed a violent crime, let alone a felony.  Before January 6^th, 2021, she had a squeaky-clean record without so much as a speeding ticket.  Now, she is, in the blistering words of the government, “a threat to future acts of political violence like that which engulfed the nation on January 6.”

Despite that ominous rhetoric, it’s unclear – even with having read the Government’s recently issued Sentencing Memo several times over thoroughly – just, what, precisely, she did. All told, her nightmarish ordeal and story represents just the latest in a series of never-ending assaults on innocent Americans by an increasingly weaponized and corrupted system of justice, which has ruthlessly targeted those overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrators who appeared at the Capitol on January 6^th, 2021, making a mockery of the rule of law and due process ever since.

The Lavrenz conviction is noteworthy for not only exemplifying the cruel and unusual aspects of the January 6^th show trials that have been ravaging this country’s justice system effectively without pause over the last four years.  But it furthermore offers yet another look into the vindictive and petty nature of how today’s Department of Justice operates.  It is quite plausible that but for Lavrenz’ incredible courage, remaining steadfast in her convictions and belief in God through tremendous evil, the DOJ might in all likelihood have given her a lighter sentence. 

Earlier this month, prior to Lavrenz’s sentencing, the DOJ released a 34-page memo, discussing her alleged crimes, which are blatantly trumped up and made to seem far worse than what really happened.  The Government’s description of Lavrenz’s “criminal” conduct is actually quite laughable. A close readthrough of the government’s memo soon reveals that Lavrenz always remained distant from the main “rioters” (its words) who led the charge into the building.  Never once did she lead a mob of violent protestors, but rather, all she did was peacefully follow the rush into the building.  She was far from being the first demonstrator to enter the Capitol.  We know many more were welcomed into the Capitol, without interference, by Capitol police.  Others were agitated by feds like Ray Epps and others who infiltrated the crowds outside, inciting many demonstrators to cause a ruckus and enter the building in the process. 

Lavrenz was swooped up in the frenzy.  But she did not do anything bad, in any sense – even relative to many other demonstrators there, whose actions were far “worse” (comparatively speaking) than anything she did.  Confirmation for this may be found in footnote 1 of Lavrenz’s memo, where the Government, now in a bind, trying to make this sweet old lady into a violent domestic terrorist, bizarrely cites the approximate cost of the entire protest – calculating the damages to be slightly below $3 million (a disputable figure).  Here, the Government is making an obvious effort to sow confusion with the inference that Lavrenz was responsible for some if not all that damage, even though there is no evidence of the kind.  So why make the reference other than to further dress up what is unmistakably a nothing burger case?  If there was evidence that Lavrenz had done something horrible, there would be no need to embellish the memorandum with nonsense statistics.  It is also worth noting that the $2.9 million cited by the Government pales in comparison to the $2 billion (that’s ‘billion’ with a ‘b’) caused by the George Floyd rioters just the previous summer.

It is readily apparent that the DOJ was quite resentful of Lavrenz’ positive outlook and unwavering faith. When I spoke to her on the phone, she was every bit as determined, strong, and indeed joyous — her entire disposition was upbeat, interlacing our conversation repeatedly with laughter — as one might expect from a praying grandma, radiating a kind of positive energy that was almost disarming given her impending sentencing days later. Indeed, the memo comes right out and says that Lavrenz’ unusually lengthy sentencing – 10 months was the original recommendation for harmless misdemeanors – was “justified … because Lavrenz … has been one of the loudest public voices calling the prosecution of January 6^th rioters a corrupt exercise.”  In other words, because Lavrenz exposed the uncomfortable truth about what was occurring in America’s capital city, a supposed bastion of democracy and paradigm of freedom, and did so as a happy warrior, with joy and a smile on her face, she is seen as the worst possible threat, deserving an inhumanely stiff sentence.

No doubt Lavrenz caused the DOJ some well-deserved humiliation. But in a society that is supposed to respect the rule of law, prosecutors should never – ever – allow their emotions to impact their punishment.  And yet, that is exactly what they did to this praying grandmother.  It’s not Lavrenz’s fault that DOJ officials are so mind-numbingly incompetent that they could not have foreseen that scapegoating a woman who can be easily branded a “praying great grandma,” because, after all, she happens to be, get this, a praying, great grandma(!), by the press would horrifically backfire.  But unfortunately, this woman now must pay the price, literally, for doing perhaps too good a job of advocating for herself!   

Later in the memo, the government lists a handful of the media appearances Lavrenz has made in recent months, in which she advocated for her cause.  The partial list includes appearances on “Newsmax,” “America First with Sebastian Gorka,” and “The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson.”  The memo scornfully describes these media appearances as opportunities where Lavrenz “fundraised off her criminal convictions, questioned the fairness of her trial, and showed no remorse for her criminal conduct.”   Strangely omitted is any mention of Lavrenz’s right to speak her mind – which is still permitted under the First Amendment (incredible, I know), even in 2024. 

Also, oddly enough, no mention of Lavrenz’s right to criticize the fairness of her trial (which she has every right to do), as well as her right to raise any perceived due process violations (too numerous to count, in this writer’s opinion) – also a protected fundamental right. Constitution be damned? That would seem to be the lesson from the DOJ.

Rather than even attempt to fabricate a reasonably sounding theory of the case, the Government’s memo is lazy and slipshod, reading more like a stalker who obsessively monitors Rebecca Lavrenz’ social media content to catch her in a gotcha moment than a competent agency tasked with enforcing the rule of law, which at least was the DOJ’s job many moon's ago. 

The government’s memo also notably omits something that used to be required to find someone guilty of a crime: a faithful interpretation and application of law.  But upon reflection, that little omission makes sense.  No faithful application of the law would ever in a million years find someone with Rebecca Lavrenz’s profile guilty of anything.  She is a God-fearing mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, so beloved by her family and community.  She is someone who cares so much for her country that she is willing to bear the cross of political persecution, even in her seventies, to inspire people to stand up for their freedoms – especially in an age of tyranny and injustice at levels never seen before in this nation’s history. Thus, their stringing together a bunch of slapdash misdemeanors — which looks even worse, now, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court finding unconstitutional the Government’s weaponization of the 1512 statute being retrofitted to J6 cases — makes the DOJ look equal parts ridiculous and desperate.

Lavrenz writes a blog regularly updating the world about her case and thoughts at www.RestoringGodlyCulture.com.  In closing, it is appropriate to quote Lavrenz in her own words, where she detailed in one of her latest entries how she sees herself – and the trials that she has endured – as something of a vessel for God’s greater mission, a purpose that even she may not fully understand at this time:

Looking back over my life, I see a process that God has used in drawing me close to Him as a Father, to be in relationship with Him, to know His love for me and hear His still small voice in order to walk out a purpose that has been bigger than anything I could ever have dreamed of. This process has involved many things; taking care of my heart when it was wounded, offended or believing lies, saying no to things that were lawful but not profitable, saying yes to God rather than please man, denying myself to follow Jesus. I think Hebrews 12:11 sums it up well “For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness–in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].”

Please support Rebecca’s GiveSendGo Page here — she needs all the help she can get, and continue to keep her and her family in your prayers!

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A slightly modified version of this piece was originally published in The Gateway Pundit, and can be found here.

Paul Ingrassia is an Attorney; Communications Director of the NCLU; a two-time Claremont Fellow, and is on the Board of Advisors of the New York Young Republican Club and the Italian American Civil Rights League. He writes a widely read Substack that is regularly posted on Truth Social by President Trump. Follow him on X @PaulIngrassia, Substack, Truth Social, Instagram, and Rumble.