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A federal prosecutor has sentenced a convicted Texas man to 15 years in prison. Attack on the US Capitol With a pistol with a holster, he called him a member of a militia group that played a central role in the attack of the Protrump mob. According to the court filed on Friday..
If the judge accepted the Justice Ministry’s recommendation, Guy Wesley Refit’s imprisonment would be against more than 200 other defendants convicted of riot-related crimes in the capital on January 6, 2021. It’s almost three times longer than either.
The longest ruling so far is five years and three months for Robert Palmer, a Florida man who has pleaded guilty to attacking police officers in the Capitol.
US District Judge Doveney Friedrich will rule Refit on August 1. Judges are not bound by any of the recommendations or judgment guidelines calculated by the court’s prosecutor’s office that require judgments ranging from 9 to 11 years. Three months,
Attorney Clinton Broden asking Refit to sentence him Within 2 years in prisonHe said he was shocked by the prosecutor’s recommendation. He said Refit was not accused of entering the Capitol or assaulting police officers that day.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” he said in a telephone interview on Friday. “I certainly don’t tolerate what Mr. Refit did. And I think everyone is aware of the seriousness of the crime. But at the same time, there must be some proportion here. Must be. “
Prosecutors claim that the “upward departure to terrorism” is justified in the case of Refit, and if the judge agrees to apply it, the sentence will be significantly longer. They say the evidence of the trial showed that Refit planned to travel to Washington, DC “with the specific intention of attacking the Capitol and taking over Congress” a few weeks before January. ..
“Refit was not intended to simply interfere with Congress’s recognition of the Electoral College’s vote. Rather, Refit physics legislators (using firearms and flexicuffs, and the power of the crowd) from the building. The intention was to actually “take over” the parliament. “U.S. Federal Prosecutor’s Assistant Jeffrey Nestler wrote.
Refit, a parliamentary riot defendant on trial, Convicted by a jury in March All five counts of his indictment. The jury was two teens when they reported to law enforcement that they had interfered with a joint session of parliament to prove the electoral college’s vote, that they had interfered with police officers guarding the Capitol. He was found guilty of threatening his child.
Prosecutors say Refit was the leader of the Texas militia group. He told other militia groups that he plans to drag Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building with his ankles.
Refit, a resident of Wylie, Texas, did not testify in his trial.
In closing arguments of the trial, U.S. lawyer Lisa Berkower proudly “ignited” the jury, and others of the mob overwhelmed the Capitol police officer near the Senate door. He said he was able to do it.
The jury watched a video capturing a conflict between several Capitol police officers and a crowd of people, including Refit, who approached them on the west side of the Capitol.
According to prosecutors, Refit is armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol with a holster on his waist, with handcuffs in a cohesive band, and wearing body armor and a helmet with a video camera when he goes to police. rice field. According to the prosecutor, he withdrew after a policeman’s pepper sprayed on his face, but eventually waved to another mob who broke the building.
Refit headed to Washington, DC with Rocky Hardy. Rocky Hardy said he and Refit were members of the Texas Sleeper Centers Militia Group. The Sleeper Centers militia movement mentions the myth that only 3% of Americans fought Britain in the American Revolutionary War.
Hardy testified that when he attended the then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop Stealing” rally before the riots, they were both armed with holster pistols. According to Hardy, Mr. Refit talked about pulling lawmakers out of the Capitol and replacing them with “constitutional” people. Hardy also said that Refit gave him two sets of zip tie cuffs in case someone needed to be detained.
Refit’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified that his father threatened him, his sister, and 16 after he returned home from Washington. Refit reported him to the authorities and told his children that he would be a traitor if he said, “The traitor will be shot,” Jackson Refit recalled.
“Politics is over,” Mr. Refit said in a court filed Friday.
“His current only goal is to bring his family back, recognizing that he has separated them as much as he has provided them for the last two decades.” Broden writes.
More than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to riots. More than 330 people were found guilty mainly of misdemeanors, and more than 200 were convicted. Over 100 other people have trial dates.
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Follow the AP coverage of the January 6 Committee Hearing. https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege..
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