The first Jan. 6 rioter, who brought a pistol to Capitol Hill and threatened House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has learned his fate after being convicted by a jury of his peers.
Guy Reffitt received a sentence of more than seven years behind bars. However, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, denied the prosecution’s request for a “terrorism enhancement,” which would have lengthened Reffitt’s already considerable time behind bars.
Friedrich denied the Justice Department’s push for a terrorism enhancement, saying that it would create a sentencing disparity between Reffitt and other Jan. 6 defendants.
As NBC News reports:
Guy Reffitt was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial. Reffitt’s own son actually tipped off the FBI a couple of weeks before Jan. 6 but didn’t hear back until after the attack. The government had an enormous amount of evidence against Reffitt, including his friend’s testimony that Reffitt was carrying zip ties and that the duo had made a decision to carry guns because they’d rather be “tried by a jury of twelve than carried by six.”
Reffitt was convicted on five counts in March, including transport of a firearm in support of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, although he did not make it inside the Capitol or use physical violence because he was eventually incapacitated after charging the police line.
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In court Monday, Reffitt described himself as “a f**king idiot” and was “not thinking clearly” when he tried to storm the U.S. Capitol.
Reffitt, an erstwhile member of the Three Percenters told Judge Dabney L. Friedrich that he no longer wished to associate with militia groups “or any stupid s**t like that.”
The development comes after a report in Rolling Stone this morning alleging that former President Trump’s legal team is bracing for criminal charges against their client for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
During the assault on the capitol, Reffitt wore a body camera, which recorded incriminating and violent statements against elected officials, as NBC News notes:
“I’m taking the Capitol with everybody f**king else,” Guy Reffitt said in his own recording, as “Tiny Dancer” played at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally. “We’re all going to drag them motherf**kers out kicking and screaming, I don’t give a s**t. I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every f**king stair on the way out, and Mitch McConnell too, f**k ‘em all… It’s time to take our country back… I think we have the numbers to make it happen.”
