A Texas militia member was sentenced Friday to almost 5 years in jail for attacking law enforcement officials on the U.S. Capitol, critically injuring one among them throughout a mob’s assault on Jan. 6, 2021.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Donald Hazard to 4 years and 9 months in jail adopted by three months of supervised launch for his function within the riot on the Capitol, in keeping with a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s workplace for the District of Columbia.
The sentence matched what federal prosecutors had really helpful for Hazard, who pleaded responsible to an assault cost in February.
Hazard, 44, of Hurst, Texas, was a member of a militia known as the Patriot Boys of North Texas. Lucas Denney, the group’s self-proclaimed president, appointed Hazard as its sergeant-at-arms. Denney additionally inspired Hazard to refill on weapons and protecting gear and recruit others to hitch them in Washington, D.C., prosecutors stated.
Hazard was “eager for violence” on Jan. 6, carrying a tactical vest and a helmet adorned with the picture of the Confederate battle flag, Justice Department prosecutor Benet Kearney wrote in a court docket submitting.
After marching to the Capitol, Hazard clashed with officers who have been making an attempt to carry off the mob close to scaffolding on the northwest aspect of the constructing. Hazard grabbed a Capitol police officer and pulled him down a set of concrete steps, knocking him unconscious. That officer was handled for a concussion and foot accidents that required a number of surgical procedures, in keeping with prosecutors.
Hazard additionally fell on one other Capitol police officer whose head hit the concrete. Hazard and Denney, each wielding what seemed to be canisters of pepper spray, confronted different officers on the west aspect of the Capitol.
Hazard briefly entered the Capitol earlier than police pushed him and different rioters out of the constructing.
“When he reached the exterior steps, Hazard raised his arms in a gesture of victory,” Kearney wrote.
In the times after Jan. 6, Hazard bragged on Facebook about storming the Capitol and preventing with police.
“The only regret Hazard expressed was that he no longer had the photographs and videos he took that day,” Kearney wrote.
Defense legal professional Ubong Akpan stated Hazard had no plan to assault officers.
“His actions were more of a reaction to what he saw that day, as opposed to a plan to attack law enforcement, a group he thought he was similarly situated with,” Akpan wrote in a court docket submitting.
Video exhibits that Hazard didn’t forcibly assault the officers within the scaffolding, his lawyer argued.
“His conduct was more consistent with impeding officers and his impeding led to bodily injuries of the officers,” Akpan wrote.
Hazard was charged with Denney, who pleaded responsible to an assault cost and was sentenced final September to 4 years and 4 months in jail.
More than 100 law enforcement officials have been injured on the Capitol on Jan. 6, as rioters disrupted Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Over 1,000 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the riot. Approximately 500 of them have been sentenced, with greater than half receiving phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to over 14 years.
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