WASHINGTON (AP) — An off-duty Virginia police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, with a fellow officer was once sentenced Thursday to greater than seven years in jail, matching the longest jail sentence up to now amongst loads of Capitol revolt instances.
Former Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson declined to handle the court docket ahead of U.S. District Pass judgement on Christopher Cooper sentenced him to seven years and 3 months in jail. Cooper additionally sentenced Robertson to a few years of supervised unlock after his jail time period.
Federal prosecutors had really helpful an eight-year jail sentence for Robertson. His sentence equals that of Man Reffitt, a Texas guy who attacked the Capitol whilst armed with a holstered handgun.
Robertson will get credit score for the 13 months he has already spent in custody. Robertson has been jailed since Cooper dominated ultimate 12 months that he violated the phrases of his pretrial unlock by means of possessing firearms.
The pass judgement on mentioned he was once bothered by means of Robertson’s behavior since his arrest — now not handiest his stockpiling of weapons but additionally his phrases advocating for violence. After Jan. 6, Robertson advised a chum that he was once ready to struggle and die in a civil conflict and he clung to baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was once stolen from then-President Donald Trump, the pass judgement on famous.
Sentencing pointers calculated by means of Cooper really helpful a jail time period starting from seven years and 3 months to 9 years.
“It’s a very long time as it displays the seriousness of the offenses that you just have been convicted of,” the pass judgement on mentioned.
In April, a jury convicted Robertson of attacking the Capitol to hinder Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory. Jurors discovered Robertson responsible of all six counts in his indictment, together with fees that he interfered with cops on the Capitol and that he entered a limited house with a deadly weapon, a big picket stick.
AP Photograph/John Minchillo, Document
Robertson’s attorneys mentioned the Military veteran was once the use of the keep on with assist him stroll as a result of he has a limp from getting shot in the suitable thigh whilst operating as a non-public contractor for the Protection Division in Afghanistan in 2011.
The pass judgement on mentioned he agreed with jurors that Robertson went to the Capitol to intrude with the joint consultation of Congress on Jan. 6. Robertson was once an “energetic and prepared player,” now not “some bystander” who were given swept up within the crowd, Cooper mentioned.
Robertson traveled to Washington on that morning with every other off-duty Rocky Mount police officer, Jacob Fracker, and a 3rd guy, a neighbor who wasn’t charged within the case.
Fracker was once scheduled to be attempted along Robertson ahead of he pleaded responsible to a conspiracy price in March and agreed to cooperate with federal government. Cooper is scheduled to condemn Fracker subsequent Tuesday.
Prosecutors have requested Cooper to spare Fracker from a jail time period and sentence him to 6 months of probation together with a duration of house detention or “neighborhood confinement.” They mentioned Fracker’s “fulsome” cooperation and trial testimony was once an important in securing convictions in opposition to Robertson.
Robertson’s attorney, Mark Rollins, sought a jail sentence beneath two years and 3 months. He wondered the equity of the large hole in sentences that prosecutors really helpful for Robertson and Fracker given their equivalent behavior.
Robertson served his nation and neighborhood with difference, his attorney advised the pass judgement on.
“His existence already is in shambles,” Rollins mentioned.
Robertson and Fracker have been amongst a number of present or former legislation enforcement officials who joined within the revolt. Prosecutors say Robertson used his legislation enforcement and armed forces coaching to dam cops who have been looking to hang off the advancing mob.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Elizabeth Aloi mentioned Robertson was once ready for violence when he went to the Capitol and did a “victory lap” within the construction, the place he posed for a selfie with Fracker.
“The defendant is, by means of all accounts, happy with his behavior on Jan. 6,” she mentioned.
Jurors noticed a few of Robertson’s posts on social media ahead of and after the revolt. In a Fb put up on Nov. 7, 2020, Robertson mentioned “being disenfranchised by means of fraud is my laborious line.”
“I’ve spent maximum of my grownup existence combating a counter insurgency. (I’m) about to grow to be a part of one, and an excessively efficient one,” he wrote.
In a letter addressed to the pass judgement on, Robertson mentioned he took complete accountability for his movements on Jan. 6 and “any deficient choices I made.” He blamed the vitriolic content material of his social media posts on a mixture of tension, alcohol abuse and “submersion in deep ‘rabbit holes’ of election conspiracy concept.”
“I sat round at night time consuming an excessive amount of and reacting to articles and websites given to me by means of Fb” algorithms, he wrote.
Town fired Robertson and Fracker after the revolt. Rocky Mount is set 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Roanoke, Virginia, and has about 5,000 citizens.
More or less 850 other folks were charged with federal crimes for his or her behavior on Jan. 6. Greater than 350 of them have pleaded responsible, most commonly to misdemeanor offenses, and greater than 230 were sentenced up to now.
Robertson’s jury trial was once the second one for a Capitol revolt case; Reffitt’s was once the primary. Jurors have unanimously convicted seven Capitol rioters of all fees of their respective indictments.
For complete protection of the Jan. 6 hearings, pass to https://www.apnews.com/capitol-siege