Tag: rioter

Capitol Police officer who sought to protect Jan. 6 rioter sentenced to home incarceration

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Still, Jackson said Riley’s lengthy career — unblemished before Jan. 6 — his lack of criminal history and the consequences he already suffered, from his forced retirement to the loss of his department-issued dog, justified the sentence of home confinement. Prosecutors had initially sought a sentence of 27 months in prison for Riley’s conduct, saying his status as a police officer exacerbated the seriousness of his actions.
It’s the close of a complicated and wrenching chapter in the arc of Jan. 6 prosecutions. Riley was convicted last year of obstruction of justice for deleting his Facebook messages. The jury deadlocked on a second obstruction charge related to his contact with Hiles.
Riley’s arrest in October 2021 followed intense, but so far unsupported, concerns among members of Congress that some Capitol Police officers may have sympathized with and even assisted the Jan. 6 mob at the Capitol.
Riley is the only officer who has faced charges stemming from his actions following the Jan. 6 attack. There’s no evidence he assisted the mob on Jan. 6 — and in fact the evidence suggests he acted “honorably” in responding to the riot, Jackson emphasized.
Jackson said it was not entirely clear why Riley chose to aid Hiles — and not any other rioter — but said he seemed enamored of Hiles, whom he didn’t know personally before Jan. 6 but who shared a passion for fishing. Riley and Hiles were active in the same social media groups for fishing enthusiasts, and Riley noticed Jan. 7 that Hiles had posted about being inside the Capitol.
He soon struck up a Facebook conversation with Hiles and urged him to delete parts of his posts that mentioned he went inside the building. Investigators, Riley noted, would be searching for and arresting anyone who went inside. Riley maintained contact with Hiles for nearly two weeks, even after he was arrested Jan. 19, 2021. After Hiles told Riley that the FBI seemed interested in their contact, Riley deleted his own communications with Hiles and sent Hiles a concocted excuse to cut off contact.
“Talk about a complete lie,” Jackson said.
The case drew sharply polarized reactions from Riley’s family, friends and colleagues. He retired from the Capitol Police within months of the charges and indicated in court Thursday that many of his former colleagues had cut off contact with him. Aquilino Gonell, a Capitol Police officer who was assaulted by members of the mob Jan. 6 and has become an outspoken advocate for prosecuting members of the mob, called him a “turncoat.”

But Jackson also acknowledged that Riley had a history of heroism on the Capitol Police force, on multiple occasions saving the lives of fellow officers or providing aid amid crisis. He saved the life of a fellow officer who was knocked unconscious during a 2011 blizzard and had stopped breezing. He was also one of the first to respond to a vehicle attack against officers in April 2021 — three months after the Jan. 6 attack — and provided aid to a downed officer, Billy Evans, who later died of his injuries.
Complicating the matter further, Riley is suffering from an undisclosed autoimmune illness that requires complicated treatments, details of which were disclosed to Jackson under seal. She acknowledged the illness in her sentencing and emphasized that he was permitted to leave his home for medical reasons.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 13, 2023
Prosecutors seek lengthiest Jan. 6 sentence yet for rioter who pinned officer in Capitol doorway

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McCaughey’s restraint of D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a Capitol doorway is one of the most recognizable and horrifying images of the violence that day. McCaughey’s restraint of Hodges lasted more than two minutes while other rioters disarmed the officer, removed his gas mask and ignored his screams or help. Images of McCaughey face-to-face with Hodges became a symbol of the brutality of the Jan. 6 riot. It occurred in the Capitol’s lower west terrace tunnel, where many of the most violent confrontations that day took place.
“The defendant’s actions on January 6 show an absolute disregard for the rule of law coupled with a willingness to incite and engage in violence,” Paschall wrote. “The nature and circumstances of this defendant’s crimes weigh heavily towards a significant term of incarceration.”
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden convicted McCaughey of nine charges — including three counts of assaulting police and obstruction of Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings — at a bench trial in September 2022. He has characterized McCaughey’s actions as particularly horrific, even compared to other rioters who participated in some of the same violent attacks. But McFadden has also repeatedly rejected prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations, often disagreeing with their calculations and proposed enhancements. Prosecutors indicated in their sentencing memo that they anticipate him disagreeing with them once again.
Still, DOJ’s recommendation is the second-steepest it has made in any Jan. 6 case so far, trailing only the 17.5-year sentence it recommended for Thomas Webster, a former New York Police Department officer who brutally assaulted an officer on the front lines of the riot. Webster is currently serving a 10-year sentence, the longest of any handed down to a Jan. 6 defendant so far, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta. Mehta viewed Webster’s conduct as particularly egregious and also concluded that Webster lied on the stand when he testified about it.
The recommendation for McCaughey surpasses the 15-year sentence the Justice Department recommended for Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 rioter convicted by a jury. Reffitt, a militia member, planned for violence with associates ahead of Jan. 6, carried a firearm and engaged with police in a lengthy standoff that enabled the mob to start amassing at the base of the Capitol. Ultimately, the judge in his case, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, sentenced Reffitt to just over seven years in prison.
Prosecutors say McCaughey, like Webster, was dishonest when he testified in his own trial last year. In addition to his lack of candor on the stand, prosecutors say McCaughey’s recommended sentence was influenced by the brutality of his attack against Hodges and a second officer, Henry Foulds — who McCaughey struck with a riot shield as the officer tried to close the doors to the tunnel.
McCaughey, for his part, is arguing for a sentence of a year in prison, contending that his crimes on Jan. 6 were an “aberration” in an otherwise law-abiding life.
“Although his conduct is indeed serious, it represents the only legal transgression this hard-working person has ever committed,” his attorney, Dennis Boyle wrote in a 25-page sentencing memo. “It is also significant to note that his actions were not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other type of benefit. Rather, his actions, which he himself admits were reprehensible, were motivated by a misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 8, 2023
Jan. 6 rioter who maced Brian Sicknick sentenced to 80 months

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Dozens of members of the Capitol Police turned out to witness Khater’s sentencing and remained for the entire four-hour hearing. Among them: Caroline Edwards, who was sprayed by Khater moments after Sicknick. Edwards delivered a courtroom statement describing “survivor’s guilt” for being unable to assist Sicknick because she, too, was incapacitated. Members of Sicknick’s family, including his longtime partner Sandra Garza, delivered scathing victim impact statements directed at Khater.
A medical examiner found that Sicknick’s death was the result of natural causes — two strokes that occurred in the evening of Jan. 6 resulting in his death the next day. But Sicknick’s family made clear they viewed Khater as culpable for his death, combined with the stress of the riot.
The hearing also laid bare how a series of mace attacks on Capitol Police officers early in the riot that day helped lead to the collapse of the police line and the breach of the Capitol building.
Prosecutors played footage showing that Khater’s attack caused not only the three injured officers to flee the outnumbered police line but several others to help guide them to safety while they were blinded by the spray. Prosecutors showed video of Sicknick pacing alone on a Capitol terrace, struggling to regain his sight and his balance. While he paces, a slew of other officers, also maced by the mob, joined him on the terrace, also struggling to return to action.
Five minutes after Khater’s spray attack, prosecutors noted, the police line collapsed and rioters reached the foot of the Capitol.
Hogan’s sentence was one of the harshest handed down to Jan. 6 defendants — far more than the sentence of time served sought by Khater, who has already served 22 months in pretrial detention – but it fell short of the 90 months sought by the government. Hogan said that was partly to account for what he described as inhumane conditions of the Washington, D.C., jail, which Hogan called a “disgrace.” The jail has been plagued by allegations of substandard living conditions and a pattern of mistreatment by corrections officials that have, at times, drawn rebukes from federal judges.
Hogan faulted Khater for refusing to directly apologize to Edwards or for the injuries he caused to Sicknick and others that day. Khater responded that he hadn’t made a more direct apology following the advice of his lawyers, and because he had recently been served with a civil lawsuit related to his actions.
Khater’s codefendant, George Tanios, was sentenced Friday to five months time served for his actions. He purchased and carried the spray used by Khater but took no part in the assaults.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

January 28, 2023