A Virginia man who assaulted police with a stolen baton and used a flashing strobe mild to disorient officers making an attempt to defend the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was sentenced Tuesday to greater than 4 years in jail.
Geoffrey Sills of Mechanicsville, Virginia, was convicted of assault with a harmful weapon, obstruction of Congress and theft for his position within the violence on the Capitol’s Decrease West Terrace tunnel, the place police had been overwhelmed and crushed as as they tried to beat again the offended mob of President Donald Trump supporters.
The 31-year-old has already served a 12 months and a half behind bars since his June 2021 arrest.
In a separate case on Tuesday, a choose declared a mistrial after jurors failed to achieve an settlement on whether or not a person described because the Oath Keepers “operations chief” for Jan. 6 was responsible of obstruction. Michael Greene was acquitted of all different felony fees on Monday, however convicted of a misdemeanor offense. Greene is the one defendant in three trials involving greater than a dozen members and associates of the far-right extremist group to not be convicted of a felony cost.
Sills — who arrived on the Capitol with a fuel masks and goggles — threw a number of pole-like objects at police, stole a police baton from an officer and hit at the very least two officers with it, in line with prosecutors. He additionally pointed a strobe mild at a line of officers within the tunnel.
Sills posted movies of his actions and others on social media that day earlier than deleting his account, prosecutors say. In a single put up — exhibiting officers in riot gear — Sills wrote: “Visited the Capitol in the present day.” In one other put up depicting rioters flooding into the the tunnel, he wrote: “Took a tour.”
U.S. District Decide Trevor McFadden discovered Sills responsible in August after a stipulated bench trial — an uncommon authorized continuing wherein defendants don’t admit guilt to fees however agree with the federal government that sure information are true.
Prosecutors had been looking for 9 years behind bars, writing in court docket papers that Sills has “expressed little regret and contrition.” Prosecutors argued that his social media posts “had been these of a person happy with his actions.”
Sills’ legal professional wrote in court docket papers that his consumer didn’t come to Washington on Jan. 6 with any intention to commit violence and had a fuel masks and tactical gear solely “as a result of he feared a terrorist assault.”
“He didn’t arrive that day planning or anticipating to wreak violence. There is no such thing as a proof that he injured anybody. He went as a result of his President requested him to. As soon as there, he stepped right into a maelstrom not of his making,” legal professional John Kiyonaga wrote. An e mail looking for remark was despatched to Kiyonaga after sentencing.
Sills is amongst roughly 1,000 individuals who have been charged with federal crimes within the riot that left dozens of cops injured. Greater than 300 individuals have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, together with greater than 100 who’ve been charged with utilizing a lethal or harmful weapon or inflicting severe bodily damage.
Greater than half the Jan. 6 defendants have pleaded responsible, together with greater than 130 who’ve pleaded responsible to felony crimes. Of the 400 who’ve been sentenced, greater than half have gotten phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to 10 years, in line with an Related Press tally.
Within the Oath Keepers case, jurors on Monday discovered 4 defendants responsible of conspiracy and obstruction: Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio, Laura Steele, of Thomasville, North Carolina, William Isaacs, of Kissimmee, Florida, and Connie Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida.
Sandra Parker’s husband, Bennie Parker, was acquitted Monday of obstruction in addition to one conspiracy cost, and Greene was acquitted of two conspiracy fees. The choose instructed jurors to maintain deliberating after they mentioned they couldn’t attain a verdict on one other conspiracy cost for Bennie Parker and the obstruction cost for Greene.
On Tuesday, the jury returned a responsible verdict for Bennie Parker on the opposite conspiracy cost, however deadlocked on the obstruction cost for Greene.
Greene, of Indianapolis, Indiana, mentioned he wasn’t a dues-paying member of the Oath Keepers however labored basically as a contractor, offering safety providers. He took the witness stand through the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers chief Stewart Rhodes and advised jurors that Rhodes requested him to come back to Washington to assist with safety operations for occasions across the Capitol earlier than the riot. Greene didn’t go contained in the Capitol and advised jurors he by no means heard anybody discussing plans to take action.
Greene’s legal professional, William Shipley, mentioned Tuesday that “the federal government’s case was a farce,” including that “it made no sense and the jury noticed it for what it was.”