DOJ wants the first US Capitol rioter convicted by jury to serve 15 years

By Holmes Lybrand and Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN

Prosecutors want the first US Capitol rioter convicted by a jury to spend 15 years behind bars — nearly a decade longer than the most severe sentence a rioter has received so far.

In a court filing Friday, the prosecutors said Guy Reffitt, a Texas father and member of the right-wing militia the Three Percenters, should spend significant time in jail because he brought two guns to Washington, DC, guided the mob forward and planned for more violence after January 6, 2021.

“Initiated by the most fervent smaller groups and individuals within the crowd — individuals like Reffitt — and using the mob itself as a cloak for their actions, each blow helped the crowd penetrate further into the United States Capitol Police’s defenses until the building itself was accessible and its occupants were at risk,” prosecutors wrote.

The request from the Justice Department comes after some public outrage that rioters are not facing harsh enough prison sentences.

Reffitt’s attorney, F. Clinton Broden, asked the court for a sentence of no more than two years, saying that his client did not engage in physical violence and did not enter the Capitol building, adding that his threats against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “appear to be hyperbolic.”

Reffitt will be sentenced next week.

He was convicted by a DC jury in March of each of the five counts he faced, including transporting and carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds, interfering with Capitol Police and obstructing an official proceeding.

While federal guidelines recommend Reffitt spend up to 11 years in prison, prosecutors asked the judge to go over those guidelines, citing his aim to overthrow the government.

Prosecutors noted that Reffitt specifically targeted lawmakers, saying in a recording on January 6: “I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every f**king stair on the way out. … And (Republican leader) Mitch McConnell too.”

After the riot, Reffitt doubled down on his violent threats, calling January 6 “the preface of the book” and writing a “manifesto” while in jail suggesting that more was to come, according to prosecutors. Reffitt was also convicted of obstructing justice for threatening his daughter and son should they turn him in to the FBI.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.