WASHINGTON — An off-duty Virginia police officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, with a fellow officer was sentenced Thursday to greater than seven years in jail, matching the longest jail sentence to date amongst a whole bunch of Capitol riot instances.
Former Rocky Mount Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson declined to deal with the courtroom earlier than U.S. District Decide Christopher Cooper sentenced him to seven years and three months in jail. Cooper additionally sentenced Robertson to 3 years of supervised launch after his jail time period.
Federal prosecutors had beneficial an eight-year jail sentence for Robertson. His sentence equals that of Man Reffitt, a Texas man who attacked the Capitol whereas 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 final yr that he violated the phrases of his pretrial launch by possessing firearms.
The decide mentioned he was troubled by Robertson’s conduct since his arrest — not solely his stockpiling of weapons but in addition his phrases advocating for violence. After Jan. 6, Robertson informed a buddy that he was ready to battle and die in a civil battle and he clung to baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen from then-President Donald Trump, the decide famous.
Sentencing tips calculated by Cooper beneficial a jail time period starting from seven years and three months to 9 years.
“It is a very long time as a result of it displays the seriousness of the offenses that you simply have been convicted of,” the decide mentioned.
In April, a jury convicted Robertson of attacking the Capitol to impede Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory. Jurors discovered Robertson responsible of all six counts in his indictment, together with costs that he interfered with cops on the Capitol and that he entered a restricted space with a harmful weapon, a big picket stick.
Robertson’s legal professionals mentioned the Army veteran was utilizing the stick to assist him stroll as a result of he has a limp from getting shot in the correct thigh whereas working as a personal contractor for the Protection Division in Afghanistan in 2011.
The decide mentioned he agreed with jurors that Robertson went to the Capitol to intervene with the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. Robertson was an “lively and keen participant,” not “some bystander” who bought swept up within the crowd, Cooper mentioned.
Robertson traveled to Washington on that morning with one other off-duty Rocky Mount police officer, Jacob Fracker, and a 3rd man, a neighbor who wasn’t charged within the case.
Fracker was scheduled to be tried alongside Robertson earlier than he pleaded responsible to a conspiracy cost in March and agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. 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 interval of house detention or “group confinement.” They mentioned Fracker’s “fulsome” cooperation and trial testimony was essential in securing convictions towards Robertson.
Robertson’s lawyer, Mark Rollins, sought a jail sentence beneath two years and three months. He questioned the equity of the broad hole in sentences that prosecutors beneficial for Robertson and Fracker given their comparable conduct.
Robertson served his nation and group with distinction, his lawyer informed the decide.
“His life already is in shambles,” Rollins mentioned.
Robertson and Fracker have been amongst a number of present or former regulation enforcement officers who joined within the riot. Prosecutors say Robertson used his regulation enforcement and army coaching to dam cops who have been attempting to carry off the advancing mob.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Elizabeth Aloi mentioned Robertson was ready for violence when he went to the Capitol and did a “victory lap” contained in the constructing, the place he posed for a selfie with Fracker.
“The defendant is, by all accounts, pleased with his conduct on Jan. 6,” she mentioned.
Jurors noticed a few of Robertson’s posts on social media earlier than and after the riot. In a Fb publish on Nov. 7, 2020, Robertson mentioned “being disenfranchised by fraud is my arduous line.”
“I’ve spent most of my grownup life preventing a counter insurgency. (I’m) about to turn into a part of one, and a really efficient one,” he wrote.
In a letter addressed to the decide, Robertson mentioned he took full duty for his actions on Jan. 6 and “any poor choices I made.” He blamed the vitriolic content material of his social media posts on a mixture of stress, alcohol abuse and “submersion in deep ‘rabbit holes’ of election conspiracy principle.”
“I sat round at night time ingesting an excessive amount of and reacting to articles and websites given to me by Fb” algorithms, he wrote.
The city fired Robertson and Fracker after the riot. Rocky Mount is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Roanoke, Virginia, and has about 5,000 residents.
Roughly 850 individuals have been charged with federal crimes for his or her conduct on Jan. 6. Greater than 350 of them have pleaded responsible, largely to misdemeanor offenses, and greater than 230 have been sentenced to date.
Robertson’s jury trial was the second for a Capitol riot case; Reffitt’s was the primary. Jurors have unanimously convicted seven Capitol rioters of all costs of their respective indictments.
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