Guy Reffitt was sentenced on Monday to more than seven years in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Reffitt was sentenced to five months in prison after a jury found him guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and threatening his own children to prevent them from reporting him to law enforcement.
You are a smart man who has a lot to offer the country and your family. Reffitt, who appeared in court wearing glasses, a white mask, and an orange prison jumpsuit, was told by Friedrich that he had the chance to make them proud.
It took nearly six hours for Friedrich to be sentenced. Reffitt's statements in which he described himself as a "martyr" and a "patriot" were highlighted by prosecutors.
After a lunch break, Reffitt apologized for his role in the violence of January 6.
Reffitt thinks everyone should hear his apology. I have an issue with saying stupid things.
Ahead of Monday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors recommended that Reffitt receive a 15-year sentence, tripling the longest one ordered to date out of the more than 800 prosecutions connected to the Capitol attack. Mark Ponder and Robert Palmer were sentenced to more than five years in prison for their roles in the Capitol riot.
Reffitt's conduct was urged to be classified as domestic terrorism and harsher sentencing guidelines be applied.
He was going to take over the government. He was trying to stop the certification. He was still going on. January 6 wasn't really a big deal.
He said that Mr. Reffitt was in a class alone.
Friedrich decided against applying the terrorism enhancement because it would cause an "unwarranted sentencing disparity" with other cases.
Reffitt wore tactical gear as he ascended a stairway outside the Capitol, with a pro- Trump mob behind him. Reffitt, a onetime member of the far-right Three Percenters group, was portrayed as the "tip of this mob's spear" by prosecutors.
Mr. Reffitt had a plan to forcibly overthrow Congress and drag members of Congress out of the Capitol.
Jackson Reffitt testified in Reffitt's trial that he reported his father to law enforcement on Christmas Eve in 2020 because he was worried about him. Jackson Reffitt secretly recorded his father after he talked about his confrontation with police on the stairs leading to the Capitol.
The son of Guy Reffitt said in court that his father became distressed as federal agents began to arrest alleged attackers. Jackson Reffitt said that his father told him and his sister that they would be traitors if they turned him in.
Jackson Reffitt expressed hope in a letter that his father would be able to use all the safety nets available in the federal prison system. He wrote that prison should not be used to destroy people.
Reffitt's daughter told Friedrich that her father's mental health has always been a problem. She blamed Donald Trump for the violence of January 6.
She said that her father's name wasn't on the flags that were being carried. "It was someone else's name."
Reffitt said that her father was not the leader.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
