An armed Indiana man and former Capitol "tourist" who was pardoned by Donald Trump would have been better off had he remained in prison. Instead, 42-year-old Matthew Huttle was shot and killed at a traffic stop after fighting with an officer.
The MAGA fan was pulled over in Jasper County on Sunday around 4:15 p.m. and allegedly resisted arrest, according to NBC News. That led to a fight that ended with deadly gunfire.
"An altercation took place between the suspect and the officer, which resulted in the officer firing his weapon and fatally wounding the suspect," police said in a statement, via NBC. It's not clear why the man was pulled over in the first place.
From NBC:
Court records show Huttle entered into an agreement with federal prosecutors in August 2023, pleading guilty to a charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. He was sentenced in November 2023 to six months in federal prison, followed by 12 months of supervised release. …
Huttle's uncle also agreed to a plea deal, court records show, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The complaint says he was identified on video assaulting officers with a flagpole on the steps of the Capitol.
He was also pardoned.
Days earlier, another Trump pardonee — a 39-year-old Florida man who had attacked Capitol police on Jan. 6 — was arrested "on pending federal gun charges," according to ABC News. The rioter in this case "had at least three previous felony convictions — one dating back to 2017 for domestic violence battery by strangulation and two in October of 2021." Clearly not enough, by MAGA standards, to keep this very fine gentleman behind bars.
Previously: Psychopaths favor right-wing authoritarianism, finds study
