Connecticut
CT Jan. 6 defendants included in mass pardon from Trump
Making good on a campaign promise, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump on Monday issued clemency to all defendants federally charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol he incited.
Eleven Connecticut residents had been charged in connection with the Justice Department’s investigation into Jan. 6. Two other defendants, Victoria Bergeson and Maurcio Mendez, both of Groton, were arrested on the day of the riot and charged with violation of the D.C. Code for unlawful entry to the Capitol grounds. They were each sentenced to 180 days of confinement and two years of probation.
Connecticut Public reached out to each defendant charged via the DOJ investigation or their legal counsel for comment on the pardons. All either declined or did not return calls or emails, except for Heather Shaner, who represented Carla Krzywicki. Krzywicki was part of a mother-daughter duo from Canterbury. Investigators say they climbed a bike rack to enter the Capitol.
“I am happy for my clients, if it makes their lives easier,” Shaner said. “I am terrified for the future of democracy.”
Shaner said Krzywicki benefited from probation because it provided her access to mental health treatment. She also said her client was extremely remorseful and had educated herself since the Capitol attack.
Shaner called the pardons “cynical horse [expletive].”
“I think it’s a big middle finger to America,” Shaner said. “It just validates the original Big Lie that the election was stolen. It’s just, ‘I’m a big boy. I can do anything the [expletive] I want. Ha ha, now I’m president.’”
Shaner’s attitude about the pardon stood in contrast to New Haven-based attorney Norm Pattis, who on Monday celebrated the broad pardon.
Meet the CT residents investigated by the DOJ after January 6, 2021
CREDIT: Courtesy of US Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia
Patrick Edward McCaughey III, Ridgefield
McCaughey was charged with and convicted of seven felonies and two misdemeanors. Prosecutors presented evidence that McCaughey participated in the “savage beating” of a police officer at the Capitol. He was alleged to have participated in using a riot shield to pin a police officer in Capitol doors, as seen in dramatic footage. He had been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. CT Post reported Tuesday that his mother said he was currently en route to Connecticut after being released from prison in Ohio.
![Image from the Statement of Facts as part of the Criminal Complaint. Emphasis not added. Description from the Statement of Facts: “As MARKEY continued to push himself toward the police line, he raised the baton (Figure 4), struck an as-yet unidentified officer […] in the face shield with his left hand…”](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/78c05a9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2340x1631+0+0/resize/880x613!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5b%2F23%2Fc9ff60d24d0e90d5edbddca5ed96%2Fmarkey-figure-4.jpg)
US District Court
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District of Columbia
Richard Markey, Wolcott
Markey pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding police using a dangerous weapon. He had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
US District Court
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District of Columbia
Jean Lavin and daughter Carla Krzywicki, Canterbury
Lavin and Krzywicki had each received 36 months of probation after pleading guilty to charges that they breached the Capitol during the insurrection. Krzywicki had also been sentenced to three months of home detention, and Lavin had been sentenced to two months of home detention.
Brothers Thomas and Michael Kenny, Greenwich
Each pleaded guilty to charges of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. They were due to be sentenced Jan. 28, 2025.
US District Court
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District of Columbia
Gino DiGiovanni Jr., Derby
Former Derby Alderman DiGiovanni pleaded guilty to entering and remaining in a restricted building. In April 2024, he was sentenced to 10 days in prison and 12 months of supervised release.
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District of Columbia
Richard T. Crosby Jr., Harwinton
Crosby breached the Senate chamber and stood on the dais alongside the so-called “QAnon Shaman.” He pleaded guilty to four charges. He was due to be sentenced in February.
US District Court
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District of Columbia
Benjamin Cohen, Westport
Cohen pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. Prosecutors said he took part in the pushing of a line of police officers. His case was dismissed on Tuesday before sentencing.
US District Court
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District of Columbia
James Roe Cleary, Waterford
Cleary was charged with multiple counts, including engaging in physical violence in a restricted building. He pleaded not guilty and his case had been continued to March 2025.
US District Court
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District of Columbia
Jeremy Baouche, New London
Baouche, an Electric Boat employee, pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. He had been sentenced to 30 days in prison and two years of probation.
Federal delegation reacts
Some members of Connecticut’s all-Democratic federal delegation were quick to respond to the pardons.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called the pardons a “massive celebration of political violence.”
“I just don’t think that we can over hype how dangerous it is that today… he is pardoning, he is expunging the prosecutions of the people who tried to tear down our Capitol, who tried to install into power the loser of the 2020 election,” Murphy said.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called Trump’s decision “sickening.”
“The mass pardons for people who committed a violent insurrection, not only injuring but in some cases causing the deaths of police officers, is absolutely abhorrent,” Blumenthal told reporters. “These January 6 rioters were lawfully convicted by a jury of peers, everyday Americans, and it is a discredit to our criminal justice system for the president of the United States to issue pardons to people who sought to prevent a peaceful transition of power.”
Rep. Jim Himes, who was at the building during the Capitol breach that day, posted on social media that the pardons were “a grotesque abuse of authority and a betrayal of our democracy.”
Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Ben Proto said Tuesday the party would only provide a statement on Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons “when there is a statement from [the Connecticut Democratic Party] on Biden pardons and clemency.”
BURLINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) — A woman is dead after police said she was involved in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer on Friday in Burlington.
According to Connecticut State Police, a Toyota RAV4 and Peterbuilt 386 tractor-trailer collided head-on on Route 4 near Punch Brook Road at around 4:49 p.m. on Friday.
The driver of the Toyota, identified as 64-year-old Mary Christine Ferland of Burlington, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured, according to state police. No one else was in either vehicle at the time of the crash.
The crash is still under investigation by state police, anyone with information is asked to call Trooper Brew at 860-626-7900.
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Thursday she is working to “shut down the bureaucracy of education,” telling an audience in New Haven that she wants to diminish federal involvement in schools and give more discretion to states.
Speaking at an event on the campus of Yale University, McMahon defended moves by President Donald Trump’s administration to radically reshape the Department of Education since his return to office.
McMahon said the federal government will continue providing education funding in the future, but direct more of it through block grant programs that empower states to spend the money where it’s most needed.
The approach will help school leaders identify promising programs that can be replicated across the country, McMahon said.
“I want to leave behind, if you will, a toolkit of best practices that you can deliver to states to say, ‘Look, this is what’s working. You might want to give this a try,’” McMahon said.
Her remarks come amid controversial policy shifts in higher education by the Trump administration, including moves to freeze billions in research funding and grants to universities and pressure schools to address antisemitism, crack down on campus protest and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs, among other changes.
McMahon, a Greenwich resident and former CEO of Stamford-based World Wrestling Entertainment, stood by the administration’s tactics, saying the threat of withholding funds is a tool it can use to ensure universities spend money wisely and for the intended purpose.
“The goal is really to make sure that universities are giving equal opportunity across their campuses,” she said.
McMahon’s visit was part of a speaker series organized by the Buckley Institute, which describes itself as an independent nonprofit working to promote intellectual diversity and freedom of speech at Yale.
McMahon served as administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She later helped establish Trump’s second administration as co-chair of his transition team, and was confirmed as education secretary last year.
During an appearance that lasted about 45 minutes, McMahon did not address many of the divisive policy changes enacted under her leadership. She said promoting literacy is her top priority, and touted the importance of school choice programs and career and technical education.
McMahon said she visited a community college in Connecticut earlier in the day, and met with the president of Yale during her stop at the school’s campus, which included a visit to Science Hill, the site of a major redevelopment project to support cutting-edge research into physical sciences and engineering.
Responding to a question from the moderator, McMahon also said she discussed so-called grade inflation with Yale’s president.
“One of the things that the university is looking at is to make sure that professors are grading accordingly in their classes, and that there’s not this grade inflation,” she said.
McMahon also briefly addressed recent controversy around a planned visit to an elementary school in Fairfield. Just hours after the event was announced, Fairfield Public Schools told families it was canceled due to community backlash.
McMahon said the event was planned as part of her nationwide “History Rocks!” tour, which celebrates the country’s 250th anniversary. Events typically include trivia games focused on history and civics that don’t have a partisan slant, she said.
“These are really feel-good programs of assembly,” she said, “and when you get that pushback from parents who are saying no this is going to be partisan … it’s really a minority of a few loud voices that are just calling … to maybe just make a statement of their own.”
McMahon has run unsuccessfully as a Republican for U.S. Senate in Connecticut. In 2009, she served for one year on the Connecticut Board of Education, appointed by then-Gov. Jodi Rell, a Republican. She has also served on the board of trustees of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
Responding to another question, McMahon reflected on how her time as a wrestling industry executive prepared her for her current role. She joked that she can “give you a mean body slam,” then said on a more serious note she benefitted throughout her life by always being open to new opportunities.
She stressed the importance of having university programs that teach older workers new skills.
“How great is it that we have these opportunities to go in a different direction?” McMahon said. “Just be wide open. Don’t think that you’re limited in your opportunity to do things. Be willing to take it on.”
This story was first published April 16, 2026 by Connecticut Public.
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