Patrick "Tate" Adamiak should never have been arrested, much less sent to prison. The evidence is clearly against such a conviction, but for some reason, that doesn't matter to far too many in the court system. I think he should be free.
So do some members of Congress.
It seems that Adamiak's story has gotten enough traction that not only does the director of the ATF have an issue with how it was handled, but six members of the legislative branch of the federal government want the former Navy sailor freed.
Congresswoman Jen Kiggans along with Congressmen Eli Crane, Eric Burlison, Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S., Rob Bresnahan, Jr., and Daniel Webster recently sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Justice Department Pardon Attorney Edward J. Martin Jr., asking that Patrick “Tate” Adamiak be freed from his 20-year prison sentence.
ATF Director Robert Cekada was also copied with the correspondence.
The letter was the idea of Rep. Eli Crane, who recently questioned Cekada during a live congressional hearing about Adamiak’s incarceration.
The six U.S. Representatives were very clear as to their intent:
“We, the undersigned Members of Congress, respectfully request that you work with President Donald Trump to give fair consideration to a commutation request for Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak. We believe that certain inconsistencies in the regulatory framework applied in his case as well as the broader enforcement environment at the time warrant careful review and consideration for executive clemency,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Representatives were extremely clear about Adamiak’s innocence, stating he had “maintained a well‑documented interest in military history and the lawful collection of historic artifacts, replicas, and training devices.”
“The items of concern in his case were inert collector pieces, nonfunctional replicas, and training aids that were incapable of firing,” the letter states.
The lawmakers pointed out that none of these items meet the “standard of a firearm,” and that ATF never alleged any violence or “the criminal misuse of any weapon.”
We've written a lot about Adamiak, including about his conviction, when I mistakenly accepted the jury's verdict as absolute proof of his guilt. I won't make that mistake again, that's for sure. Not when all I have is a report of his conviction.
But I've owned up to my mistakes. The criminal justice system that imprisoned him hasn't, and that's the big issue here, because Adamiak didn't have the weapons he was accused of having. It's just that simple, and a pardon is about the only way now that we can see this travesty of justice made right.
I'm less than thrilled that it's only six members of Congress asking for this, when it would be all of them in a just world. Too bad we don't live in one.
Still, having some congressional meat behind the pardon petition can only help Adamiak's case. It's one thing to want the president to sign the paper. It's another when there's a lot of high-profile pressure being brought to the table to get the president to sign the paper. It's not like Trump will be bullied into doing anything, but anyone is more likely to listen to a lot of important voices than just one when you've got as much going on as the President of the United States.
Yet, at the end of the day, there's more to this than Adamiak's plight. Yes, that's important, and he needs to be pardoned so he can get his life back, but the bigger issue long-term is that the system allowed this to happen. Our entire judicial system is basically premised on the idea that it's better to let a dozen guilty men go free to prevent one innocent man from losing his freedom. That clearly didn't happen here. The ATF's so-called expert falsely represented the evidence to the jury, the judge let him, and the jury reached the wrong decision. That can't be allowed to happen again.
