More than 700 people have been charged in the attack on the US Capitol, most of them for minor crimes (File)
Washington:
A Donald Trump supporter has been sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting police officers during the attack on the Capitol, the most severe sentence handed down in the Jan. 6 violence investigation.
Robert Scott Palmer, 54, was seen in videos and photos wearing an American flag jacket decorated with pro-Trump patches and a hat that reads “Florida for Trump” while carrying signs, a fire extinguisher and other items to the police threw outside the Capitol.
He had attempted to enter the Capitol, but was eventually pushed back by pepper spray from security officials.
Then he kept throwing things at cops until he was hit by a rubber bullet.
Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed Palmer’s arguments for leniency from a troubled youth and a handwritten apology that said he and others had been duped into attacking Congress by the former president, whom he called “tyrannical” and “desperate to take power.” stay”. “
“I realize we mean that Trump supporters have been lied to,” he wrote.
Prosecutors pointed out that, even after his plea of guilty on Oct. 4, Palmer continued to defend his actions, calling the police the aggressors on a fundraising website he set up.
“Palmer purposely joined a large group of rioters with the specific intention of disrupting the country’s electoral process,” prosecutors told the court in a sentencing memo.
Palmer’s violence was to pursue his political goal, which is to undermine democratic elections and the peaceful transfer of power.
The previous most severe sentence in the Capitol bombing was 41 months and was imposed on two men charged with obstructing official proceedings but not assaulting law enforcement officers.
More than 700 people have been charged in the attack, most of them for minor offenses such as illegally entering the Capitol.
But several dozen are facing assault and deadly weapons charges, as well as conspiracy, which could lead to harsh sentences.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
