WASHINGTON — An Arkansas man who propped his ft on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace in a extensively circulated photograph from the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced Wednesday to greater than 4 years in jail.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett turned one of many faces of the Jan. 6 riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, and U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper mentioned in asserting that sentence that Barnett appeared at instances to benefit from the notoriety.
“All the folks who follow ‘Bigo’ need to know the actions of Jan. 6 cannot be repeated without some serious repercussions,” Cooper mentioned, alluding to the media consideration and social media following Barnett attracted after the riot.
The 54-month sentence for Barnett, a retired firefighter from Gravette, Arkansas, comes after he was convicted at trial on eight counts, together with felony expenses of civil dysfunction and obstruction of an official continuing, on this case a Jan. 6, 2021, session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump within the 2020 presidential election.
The images of Barnett lounging at a desk in Pelosi’s workplace made him one of the memorable figures from the riot. Barnett, 63, testified he was “going with the flow” and struck a pose after information photographers advised him to “act natural.”
He advised the choose that becoming a member of the riot was “an enigma my life” that he regretted, however mentioned prosecutors wished him to be “remorseful for things I did not do.”
“Jan. 6 was a traumatic dey for everyone, not just law enforcement,” he mentioned. He has vowed to attraction his conviction. He testified at trial that he was swept together with the gang into the Capitol, and was on the lookout for a toilet when he unwittingly entered Pelosi’s workplace and encountered two information photographers.
Cooper, although, mentioned he didn’t imagine Barnett performed such a passive position.
It was established at trial that Barnett introduced into the Capitol a stun gun with spikes, hid inside a collapsible strolling stick. Barnett additionally took a chunk of Pelosi’s mail and left behind a word that mentioned, “Nancy, Bigo was here,” punctuating the message with a sexist expletive.
Before leaving Capitol grounds, Barnett used a bullhorn to provide a speech to the gang, shouting, “We took back our house, and I took Nancy Pelosi’s office!” in line with prosecutors.
Prosecutors additionally mentioned Barnett has since posted “falsehoods” on social media about Jan. 6 and downplaying his position. “The defendant still believes he can say or do whatever he wants and if someone else is threatened by it, that’s their problem,” prosecutor Alison Prout mentioned.
Defense lawyer Jonathan Gross mentioned Barnett didn’t damage anybody or harm property, and was being singled out as a result of the photograph had made him well-known.
“Mr. Barnett should not be punished because the government thinks he’s a symbol,” he mentioned.
Cooper’s sentence fell in need of the roughly seven years prosecutors sought, although it was greater than protection attorneys’ request for a 12-month time period.
More than 1,000 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol riot. Just over 500 of them have been sentenced. More than half have obtained jail phrases starting from every week to over 14 years.
Also sentenced Wednesday was Robert Morss of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania. He bought greater than 5 years in jail after being convicted on three counts. Prosecutors say Morss wearing fatigues and tried to take a baton from an officer, in addition to shields, whereas working to prepare members of the gang to push previous Capitol guards.
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