Washington (AP) — Texas man convicted Raid the US Capitol A man who wore a holstered handgun, helmet and body armor was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on Monday. Among hundreds of Capitol riot incidents.
Prosecutors said Guy Reffitt told fellow members of the Texas Three Percentets militia group that he planned to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building by the ankles. rice field. .
Reffitt’s sentence – seven years and three months – is two years longer than the longest sentence ever for a Capitol riot defendant. But this was less than half of his 15-year prison term demanded by federal prosecutors, who called Mr. Reffitt a domestic terrorist and wanted to physically remove and replace MPs. Stated.
Refit is first person to be tried for January 6, 2021 attackssupporters of then-President Donald Trump called off a joint congressional session to prove Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who presided over Reffitt’s jury trial, also sentenced him to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $2,000 in damages.
Department of Justice Prosecutor recommended 15 years in prison Sentence against Reffitt, who has already been in prison for about 19 months. They said he was a member of a militia group intent on dragging lawmakers out of the building and taking over Congress to stop the electoral college from recognizing votes.
Sentencing guidelines calculated by the court’s probation division called for prison terms ranging from 9 to 11 years and 3 months. Prosecutors argued that the Reffitt case justified an “upward turn to terrorism.”
Longest Sentence Before Refit The two men who pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in the Capitol were sentenced to five years and three months.
Attorney Clinton Broden asked Reffitt to be found guilty. 2 years or less in prison. Broden said Reffitt did not attack law enforcement officers or break into the Capitol.
The video captured a confrontation between the outnumbered Capitol police officers and a crowd, including Refitt, who approached them on the west side of the Capitol.
According to prosecutors, Riffit approached officers armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol in a waist holster, carrying zip-tie handcuffs, wearing body armor and a helmet with a video camera. He retreated after officers sprayed him with pepper in his face, but waved to other mobs who eventually breached the building, prosecutors said.
Reffitt did not testify at the previous trial A jury found him guilty in March of all five counts in his indictment. A jury found him guilty of obstructing a joint session of Congress, obstructing a police officer outside the Capitol, and threatening two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement. I went down.
Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified that his father told him and his sister, who was 16 at the time, that he would become a traitor if they reported him to the authorities and warned that “traitors will be shot.”
Prosecutors said Guy Reffitt was a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia group. The Sleeper Centers movement refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought in the Revolutionary War against Britain.
Reffitt lived with his wife and children in Wiley, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. He drove to Washington, D.C. with Rocky Hardy, a member of a militia group.
Hardy testified that both were armed with holstered handguns when they attended Trump’s ‘Stop theft’ rally before the riot. Hardy also said Riffit gave him his two sets of zip ties in case he needed to restrain someone.
More than 840 people have been indicted for federal crimes related to the riots. More than 340 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly misdemeanors. More than 220 people have been convicted, nearly half of them serving prison sentences. About 150 other exam dates will be extended to his 2023.
Reffitt is one of seven Capitol Riot defendants ever to be tried by jury. The jury unanimously convicted all seven of her on all counts of each indictment.
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Follow AP’s Jan. 6 Commission Hearing coverage. https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege.