At least a dozen Massachusetts residents who were convicted of charges or were still facing charges for taking part in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, have been granted relief from President Donald Trump.

Just hours after taking office, Trump used his clemency powers to undo a sweeping investigation and prosecution effort by the Justice Department and FBI agents into the riot that sought to keep Trump in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. The sweeping action applies to more than 1,500 people nationwide whose cases will be pardoned, dismissed or commuted.

Former Boston police officer Joseph Fisher, who’d pleaded guilty to attacking a fellow officer trying to defend the Capitol, is among the Massachusetts residents who received pardons.

Mark Sahady, a Malden resident sentenced last month to a five-month prison term, is weighing whether to continue to appeal his case, his defense attorney Eden Quainton told GBH News Tuesday. Sahady helped organize buses that went to Washington ahead of Jan. 6, and a federal judge found him guilty of disruptive and disorderly conduct in the Capitol.

Quainton, who has defended two other people facing criminal charges from the Jan. 6 riot, said he welcomed Trump’s swift action to pardon his client and others.

“There was a lot of overreach by the judges … a rush to convict people,” Quainton told GBH News, adding that Sahady was respectful of Capitol police.

Still, Quainton said he was surprised by the scope of Trump’s action.

“What I thought the president would do was a blanket pardon for just the misdemeanor [cases], because all the misdemeanors are nonviolent, and then review the felony charges on a case-by-case basis,” Quainton said.

The pardons represent the capstone of Trump’s long efforts revise people’s memory of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that injured more than 100 police officers who tried to defend the building against a mob of angry Trump supporters wielding poles and bats and smashing in windows. Lawmakers and aides fled and hid from the rioters.

Trump has described the rioters as “patriots” and then “hostages,” claiming they were unfairly treated by the Justice Department.

He said the pardons will end “a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years” and begin “a process of national reconciliation.”

Trump also ordered the attorney general to push for the dismissal of about 450 cases that are pending before judges stemming from Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation, the largest in the agency’s history. That move would likely affect cases pending against two other Massachusetts residents: Daniel Tocci, of Amherst; and Michael St. Pierre, of Swansea.

It is unclear is how quickly some of the convicted rioters may be released from prison.

Suffolk Law School professor Rosanna Cavallaro said the sweeping pardon is “a stunning blow to any notion of a rule of law.”

“Physical violence has now been validated because the president decided he agreed with the motivations of these violent actors,” Cavallaro told GBH News. “It’s just astonishing because it takes us to this next level where we feel like the guardrails are off.”

Cavallaro added the pardons will make Americans feel less safe.

“I tell my students on day one of criminal law is that the way that we agree to live in a community is to all accept and abide by basic norms,” she said. “That’s what makes us all imagine ourselves safe from injury from others.”

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone , who lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun , said he has worried about his safety and the well-being of his family since the insurrection. Trump’s pardoning his assailants increases that fear, he said.

“This is what the American people voted for,” he said. “How do you react to something like that?”

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
 

Here are the other Jan. 6 cases with ties to Massachusetts: 

Joseph Fisher
The former Boston Police officer was arrested March 2023. One of the charges was assaulting a Capitol police officer. He was sentenced to 14 “intermittent” days of prison, 36 months of probation, and $500 in restitution.

Julie Miller, aka Hong Ngo
In June 2024, Miller was sentenced to 36 months’ probation and ordered to pay $500 restitution.

Chase Kevin Allen
In November 2022, Allen was ordered to two weeks of confinement and 36 months of probation, with $500 in restitution.

Noah S. Bacon
The former yoga instructor with Cambridge’s Council on Aging was sentenced to a year in prison in 2023, 24 months of supervised release, and $2,000 in restitution.

Stefanie Chiguer
Pled guilty in April 2022 and was sentenced to 24 months of probation.

Kim Marie Connolly
Pled guilty and was sentenced to six months of probation and $500 in restitution.

Long Duong, aka Jimmy Hoang Duong
Arrested in 2023. Pled guilty to entering a restricted building and was sentenced in April 2024 to three years of probation and $500 in restitution.

Vincent Gillespie
Sentenced at trial to more than five years in prison and three years of supervised release for assaulting, resisting, impeding officers. He appealed in April 2023. He also once appealed a $15 parking ticket  to Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial court.

Suzanne Ianni
Pled guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to 15 days of incarceration, 30 months of probation, 60 hours of community service and $500 in restitution.

Christopher H. Keniley
Broke windows and assaulted members of the Capitol police. Pled guilty in 2023. Incarcerated for 10 days, sentenced to two years of probation and $500 in restitution.

Brian McCreary
Pled guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to 42 days of “intermittent incarceration,” two months of home detention, three years of probation, and a $2,500 fine after losing his job.

Troy Sargent
Pled guilty, and was sentenced to 14 months of prison in December 2022. Judge also ordered 2 years of supervised release and $500 in restitution. Sargent appealed unsuccessfully.

Jacquelyn Starer
Arrested in 2022. Sentenced to nine months of home confinement in Sept. 5, 2024, and apologized for punching officer.