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Federal prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for a Texas man convicted of attacking the Capitol, calling him a member of the militia group that took a central role in the attack on the pro-Trump mob.
If the judge accepts the Justice Department’s recommendation, Guy Wesley Reffitt’s prison sentence would be nearly three times longer than any of the more than 200 other defendants who have been convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 riots. 2021 in the country’s capital.
The longest sentence so far is five years and three months for Robert Palmer, a Florida man who was found guilty of assaulting Capitol police officers.
Judge Dabney Friedrich is scheduled to sentence Guy Wesley Reffitt on August 1. The judge is not required to follow any of the sentencing recommendations or guidelines calculated by the department, which range from nine years to 11 years and three months.
Defense attorney Clinton Broden, who is asking that Guy Wesley Reffitt be sentenced to no more than two years in prison, said he was shocked by prosecutors’ recommendation. He noted that his client was not charged with entering the Capitol or assaulting any police officers that day.
“It’s absolutely absurd”he said during a telephone interview on Friday. “I certainly do not condone what Mr Reffitt did. And I think everyone understands the seriousness of the violations. But at the same point, there should be some proportionality here.”
Prosecutors argue that Mr. Reffitt’s case warrants a “terrorism justification,” which would lead to a much longer sentence if the judge agrees to apply it. They say trial evidence showed defendant Reffitt planned for weeks before January to travel to Washington, D.C. “with the specific purpose of attacking the Capitol and seizing control of Congress”.
Guy Wesley Reffitt was convicted by a jury in March of all five counts in his indictment. Jurors found him guilty of obstructing a joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote, interfering with police officers guarding the Capitol and threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement. law enforcement.
Prosecutors say Reffitt was a leader of a Texas militia group. He told other members of the militia group that he planned to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building by her ankles, prosecutors said.
Reffitt, a resident of Wylie, Texas, did not testify at his trial.
Guy Wesley Reffitt was armed with a Smith & Wesson handgun in a belt holster, was handcuffed with a chain link and was wearing a helmet equipped with a video camera, according to prosecutors. He retreated after an officer pepper-sprayed him in the face, but incited other protesters who eventually broke into the building, prosecutors said.
Guy Wesley Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified that his father threatened him and his sister, then 16, after he drove home from Washington. Reffitt told his children they would be traitors if they reported him to the authorities and told them that “traitors get shot,” Jackson Reffitt recalled.
More than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riots. Over 330 of them have pleaded guilty, and over 200 of them have been convicted.
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