WASHINGTON — A retired New Jersey State Police trooper who stormed the U.S. Capitol with a mob of Donald Trump supporters was sentenced to probation instead of prison on Friday, as the federal courts reached a milestone in the punishment of Capitol rioters.

Videos captured Michael Daniele, 61, yelling and flashing a middle finger near police officers guarding the Capitol before he entered the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Daniele expressed his regret for his role in the attack before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced him to two years of probation, including 30 days of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and ordered him to pay a $2,500 fine. Prosecutors had recommended an 11-month prison sentence for Daniele.

“My family has been through hell,” Daniele said before learning his sentence. “I would never do anything like this again.”

The number of sentencings for Capitol riot cases topped the 1,000 mark on Friday, according to an Associated Press review of court records that began more than three years ago.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with Jan. 6-related federal crimes. At least 647 of them have been convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years. Over 200 have been sentenced to some form of home confinement.

In June, Mehta convicted Daniele of misdemeanor charges after a trial without a jury. But the judge acquitted him of two felony counts of interfering with police during a civil disorder.

Daniele served as a New Jersey State Police trooper for 26 years.

“I cannot be possible that you thought it was OK to be inside the United States Capitol on January 6th,” the judge said.

Daniele wasn’t accused of physically assaulting any police officers or causing any damage at the Capitol that day.

“You’re not criminally responsible for that, but you do bear some moral obligation for it,” the judge said.

A prosecutor said Daniele “should have known better” given his law-enforcement training and experience.

“By being there, he lent his strength to a violent mob,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Jackson said.

Daniele traveled from Holmdel, N.J., to Washington, D.C., to attend then-President Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6, when Congress convened a joint session to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

Before Trump finished speaking, Daniele marched to the Capitol and joined hundreds of other rioters at the Peace Circle, where the mob breached barricades and forced police to retreat. Daniele entered the Capitol through the Senate Wing doors and walked through the Crypt. He spent roughly six minutes inside the building.

When the FBI interviewed him, Daniele referred to the Jan. 6 attack as a “set up” and suggested that other rioters “looked like cops,” according to prosecutors.

“He also blamed the violence of January 6 on the police — despite serving decades with law enforcement himself — accusing the police officers facing an unprecedented attack by a crowd of thousands of not following proper riot control practices,” prosecutors wrote.

Defense attorney Stuart Kaplan said incarcerating Daniele would be a waste of taxpayer dollars.

“He made poor choices and a bad decision,” the lawyer said. “I think he’s got more credits than debits.”

PRINCETON, NJ, Oct. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc. (the “Company” or “Sonnet”) (NASDAQ: SONN), a clinical-stage company developing targeted immunotherapeutic drugs, today announced it has received preliminary approval for a tax credit from the New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). Sonnet received approval of its application to sell up to $8,143,144 of its New Jersey State net operating losses (NOLs) and $62,810 of its New Jersey State research and development (R&D) tax credits for proceeds of up to $0.795 million through the New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program, subject to execution of such sale. Sonnet also expects to receive a $0.7 million net cash refund from the R&D Tax Incentive Program in Australia.

Pankaj Mohan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sonnet commented, “We are grateful for NJEDA’s continued support of the biotechnology industry and to be one of the recipients to benefit from the New Jersey Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program. With the addition of the net cash refund from the Australian R&D Tax Incentive Program, this will provide Sonnet with non-dilutive capital to continue to direct our resources towards advancing our pipeline of targeted immunotherapeutic drugs.”

The Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program administered by the NJEDA enables qualified companies to sell up to $20 million of their unused New Jersey NOLs and R&D tax credits to unaffiliated, profit-generating corporate taxpayers in the State of New Jersey. The Technology Business Tax Certificate Transfer Program is designed to allow technology and biotechnology companies with NOLs to turn their tax losses and credits into cash proceeds to fund more R&D, expand its workforce and cover other allowable expenditures. Sonnet is one of several biotechnology/technology companies to qualify in this competitive process to share in the funding this year.

The Australian R&D Tax Incentive Program allows certain companies to claim a significant percentage of their costs related to R&D activities they have or are planning to undertake in Australia.

The Company expects to receive the Australian net cash refund before calendar year end 2024 and the proceeds from the sale of its New Jersey NOLs and R&D tax credits before the end of the first calendar quarter of 2025, subject to execution of such sale.

About Sonnet BioTherapeutics Holdings, Inc.

Sonnet is an oncology-focused biotechnology company with a proprietary platform for innovating biologic drugs of single or bifunctional action. Known as F_HAB (Fully Human Albumin Binding), the technology utilizes a fully human single chain antibody fragment (scFv) that binds to and “hitch-hikes” on human serum albumin (HSA) for transport to target tissues. Sonnet’s F_HAB was designed to specifically target tumor and lymphatic tissue, with an improved therapeutic window for optimizing the safety and efficacy of immune modulating biologic drugs. F_HAB is the foundation of a modular, plug-and-play construct for potentiating a range of large molecule therapeutic classes, including cytokines, peptides, antibodies, and vaccines.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, as amended, including those relating to the proceeds from the Company’s New Jersey State NOLs and R&D tax credits, the Company’s Australia net cash refund, the outcome of the Company’s clinical trials, the Company’s cash runway, the Company’s product development, clinical and regulatory timelines, market opportunity, competitive position, possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, potential growth opportunities and other statements that are predictive in nature. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which we operate and management’s current beliefs and assumptions.

These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements relate to future events or our financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include those set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contact:
JTC Team, LLC
Jenene Thomas
908.824.0775
SONN@jtcir.com

New Jersey’s Institute for Social Justice (NJISJ) will continue to examine the state’s history of slavery and its impact on Black New Jerseyans.

The two-year-long probe by the Institute’s Reparations Council will study New Jersey’s history and connection to its current racial landscape, making strategic recommendations for reparative justice policies in New Jersey.

On Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m., the Reparations Council’s Environmental Justice Committee will present its findings on the effects of environmentally racist policies during the Institute’s seventh public session.

Strategic communications and branding consultant Nicole Miller is a member of the Environmental Justice Committee. She says her interest in the environment comes from bringing sustainable solutions to small local businesses, religious organizations, elected officials and community groups at her firm, MnM Consulting.

“New Jersey has long profited from both the exploitation and neglect of Black communities, dating back to its active and horrific involvement in the slave trade,” Miller said. “Our committee has been focused on identifying the specific policies and practices that have harmed Black residents, particularly through environmental factors like poor air and water quality, as well as exposure to toxins like lead and dioxin.”

She added, “These [poisons] have led to higher rates of serious health issues, including cancer and asthma, along with socio-economic challenges stemming from neurological and behavioral disorders. Ideally, reparations in New Jersey will directly address these harms by fixing the economic and political structures relying on urban communities to be environmental sacrifice zones for the wealth of the region.”

Institute officials say they want to learn how environmental policies and actions have affected the economic, social, educational and health aspects of the lives of Black people in New Jersey. They are asking community members to submit testimony in any form — written, video or audio — on the Reparations Council’s website.

Members of the Environmental Justice Committee include educators, activists and public policymakers, including:

• Sharif Braxton, community officer New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Melissa Miles, executive director, New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance
• Nicole Miller, strategic communications and branding consultant, MnM Consulting
• Nicky Sheats, director, Center for the Uran Environment, John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research, Kean University
• Mia White, assistant professor, Urban and Environmental Studies, The New School

Monday’s meeting will stream live from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Zoom and on the NJISJ’s YouTube channel. Attendees must register to obtain a link to join the Zoom meeting.

To join the session via Zoom and share comments, register here. The committee will hear as many registrants as time allows. Comments will be limited to three minutes.

The Reparations Council will consider input from the public when creating policy recommendations, which will be presented in a final report on Juneteenth 2025.

Read more like this on Mosaic:

NJ reparations council shares key insights after year of in-depth research

‘Investing’ in social justice means different things. N.J.’s civil rights warrior Ryan Haygood explains

Juneteenth rally unites community in fight for reparations

Ande Richards may be reached at arichards@njadvancemedia.com.

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