MAGA rioter's 'gobbledygook' arguments ripped to shreds by his own sister-in-law

The sister-in-law of a convicted Capitol rioter this week pleaded with the legal system to have mercy on him, even as she lambasted the defenses he attempted to use to stay out of jail.

In a letter flagged by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, Heather Kelley pleaded with Judge Royce Lamberth to go easy on her brother-in-law, Taylor James Johnatakis, who was convicted of assaulting police officers and other felony offenses when he stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2021.

Kelley began the letter by acknowledging Johnatakis' flaws, including "abrasive qualities, like arrogance and being a know it all."

She also knocked Johnatakis' decision to represent himself in court and make arguments that, as a sovereign citizen, he is not bound by laws that constrain the actions of American citizens.

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"I agree with your statement, that his sovereign citizen representation is 'bull s--t' and 'gobbledygook,'" she said. "Leading up to Taylor's case, I talked several times with Taylor about his decision to represent himself. While I listened to him, it was almost like he was speaking a different language."

However, Kelley came to believe that her brother-in-law only made these arguments because he was terrified of prison and believed that claiming sovereign citizenship was his best ticket out.

The jury in his case obviously felt very differently when it voted to convict him last year, however.

Nonetheless, Kelley told Lamberth that Johnatakis has never been a violent person in the past and he "has also been very kind and charitable to those around him, as well as to me and my family" and insisted that he would never again take part in a violent effort to block the certification of a presidential election on behalf of Trump.

"When you consider his sentence, I ask that you consider community service as an option," she wrote. "Please remember my sister and the impact that this has already had on her and her children, and will have on them in the years to come."