Brianne Chapman protests exterior the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Friday, through the sentencing listening to for Julian Khater and George Tanios. Khater pleaded responsible to assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick with pepper spray on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
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Jose Luis Magana/AP
Brianne Chapman protests exterior the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Friday, through the sentencing listening to for Julian Khater and George Tanios. Khater pleaded responsible to assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick with pepper spray on Jan. 6, 2021.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
A rioter who assaulted regulation enforcement officers with pepper spray exterior the Capitol Building through the Jan. 6 riot was sentenced to 80 months in prison Friday with credit score for time served.
Julian Khater of Somerset, N.J., pleaded responsible final September to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a harmful weapon through the Jan. 6 rebellion on the Capitol. He’s been incarcerated since March 14, 2021.
One of the officers Khater was charged with assaulting, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died the day after the assault. Washington, D.C., Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz found that Sicknick died from natural causes after struggling a number of strokes; Diaz advised the Washington Post, “all that transpired played a role in his condition.”
In courtroom Friday, Sicknick’s mom, Gladys Sicknick, advised Khater, “You attacked my son like he was an animal. You are the animal, Mr. Khater. … How does it feel to be headed to jail for a bald-faced lie?”
Khater’s position in the rebellion
Khater traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 6, together with his now co-defendant, George Pierre Tanios of Morgantown, W.V. Tanios had bought two cannisters of pepper spray and two cannisters of bear spray someday earlier than the 2 males arrived in D.C., the Justice Department says.
They attended former President Donald Trump’s rally on the Ellipse after which marched to the Capitol constructing, the place they joined the mob.
As the mob pushed to enter the constructing, regulation enforcement officers tried to preserve protesters again by using a motorcycle rack as a barrier. At 2:23 p.m., rioters tried to pull the rack away from officers, which is when Khater pepper-sprayed Sicknick in the face, forcing the officer to retreat, the DOJ assertion stated.
Khater then sprayed two different officers, who have been additionally compelled to retreat.
“All three officers suffered bodily injury from the pepper spray attack and were incapacitated and unable to perform their duties,” the DOJ assertion stated.
Officer Caroline Edwards, who was sprayed similtaneously Sicknick, stated he turned “ghostly pale.” She went on to clarify that she could not assist him as a result of she was briefly blinded from the chemical spray, and in consequence continues to wrestle with survivor’s guilt.
“Brian gave some of the very last breaths he had defending the Capitol building … and our democracy,” Edwards stated Friday.
Khater and Tanios have been arrested in March 2021 and each pleaded responsible to the costs introduced towards them. Tanios was sentenced Friday to time served.
Khater wasn’t charged with homicide
Khater’s legal professionals famous that Sicknick died of pure causes on Jan. 7, 2021, and argued that the defendant wasn’t accountable both straight or not directly for the officer’s dying.
Judge Thomas Hogan labeled that challenge “the elephant in the room” and stated he wouldn’t sentence Khater or Tanios for against the law they’d not been charged with.
Having stated that, Hogan additionally stated that assaulting the officers with chemical spray was “inexcusable.”
Khater and Tanios are additionally going through civil lawsuits
President Biden introduced Serena Liebengood the Presidential Citizens Medal on behalf of her accomplice, U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard C. Liebengood, who died by suicide days after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Patrick Semansky/AP
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Patrick Semansky/AP
President Biden introduced Serena Liebengood the Presidential Citizens Medal on behalf of her accomplice, U.S. Capitol Police officer Howard C. Liebengood, who died by suicide days after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Hogan stated he did not hear Khater apologize to the officers, together with dozens who have been injured and a few who can by no means return to responsibility.
“I find that is a very self-centered approach,” Hogan advised Khater Friday.
In response, Khater advised the choose that he had labored on “many drafts” of his assertion, however that he did not apologize due to ongoing civil circumstances. Hogan advised Khater that he needs to be involved about civil legal responsibility.
Sicknick’s longtime accomplice Sandra Garza sued the two rioters as well as Trump for Sicknick’s wrongful dying. She is searching for $10 million in damages from every defendant.
Garza stated on the sentencing that she has seen “zero remorse” from both Khater or Tanios.
“To say the least, this has been a long, agonizing but humbling experience that has taken a huge toll on me,” Khater stated, including that he suffers from “crippling anxiety.”
On the two-year anniversary of the rebellion earlier this month, President Biden awarded 14 folks the Presidential Citizens Medal for defending the Capitol, together with posthumous awards for Sicknick and fellow Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood. Liebengood died by suicided, in accordance to a household legal professional, just some days after defending the Capitol Building.