A jailed member of the Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced on Friday to greater than 4 years in jail for his function in a mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol three years in the past, courtroom data present.
William Chrestman, a U.S. Army veteran from Olathe, Kansas, brandished an axe deal with and threated police with violence after main different Proud Boys members to the perimeter of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Chrestman pleaded responsible in October to obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral School vote. He additionally pleaded responsible to a second felony depend of threatening to assault a federal officer through the Capitol riot.
U.S. District Choose Timothy Kelly sentenced Chrestman to 4 years and 7 months in jail, in accordance with courtroom data.
Prosecutors had really useful a jail sentence of 5 years and three months, arguing that he “performed a big function through the riot resulting from his presence and conduct at pivotal moments through the day.”
“Certainly, Chrestman usually offered himself as a pacesetter among the many rioters together with when he was a part of the tip of the spear that created the breach on the Peace Circle, inspired different rioters to maneuver to the police barricades, advised rioters to cease the arrest of a rioter, and thanked them for supporting the Proud Boys,” prosecutors wrote.
Chrestman has been jailed since his arrest in February 2021. He’ll get credit score for the practically three years he already has served in custody.
Protection lawyer Michael Cronkright argued that Chrestman by no means used his axe deal with “to do something remotely violent” on Jan. 6.
“So far, the worst factor that the federal government has asserted is that he used it to the touch a safety gate that was already going up,” Cronkright wrote.
Chrestman additionally had a fuel masks, a helmet and different tactical gear when he traveled to Washington with different Proud Boys members from the Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, space. On Jan. 6, he marched to the Capitol grounds with dozens of different Proud Boys leaders, members and associates.
Chrestman and different Proud Boys moved previous a toppled steel barricade and joined different rioters in entrance of one other police barrier. He shouted a menace at officers and yelled at others within the crowd to cease police from arresting one other rioter, in accordance with prosecutors.
Dealing with the gang, Chrestman shouted, “Whose home is that this?”
“Our home!” the gang replied.
“Would you like your home again?” Chrestman requested.
“Sure!” the gang responded.
“Take it!” Chrestman yelled.
Chrestman additionally pointed his finger at a line of Capitol law enforcement officials, gestured at them together with his axe deal with and threatened to assault them in the event that they fired “pepper ball” rounds on the crowd of rioters, in accordance with a courtroom submitting accompanying his responsible plea.
Additionally on Friday, a person who briefly ran an unsuccessful marketing campaign for governor of Oregon after storming the Capitol was sentenced to almost 4 years in jail. Reed Knox Christensen, 65, charged at a gaggle of law enforcement officials outdoors the Capitol and assaulted 5 of them earlier than rioters breached the police line, prosecutors mentioned.
Christensen captured lower than 1% of the votes forged in Oregon’s Might 2022 Republican major for the governor’s race. Prosecutors mentioned he used the marketing campaign “to acquire free publicity and brag about his participation within the riot.”
Christensen additionally wrote a self-published guide about his “experiences previous to and together with January 6,” in accordance with his lawyer, Troy Nixon.
U.S. District Choose Royce Lamberth sentenced Christensen, an engineer from Hillsboro, Oregon, to 3 years and 10 months in jail, courtroom data present.
Greater than 1,200 individuals have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. About 900 of them have pleaded responsible or been convicted after trials determined by a jury or decide. Over 750 of them have been sentenced, with practically 500 receiving some time period of imprisonment, in accordance with knowledge compiled by The Related Press.
Dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates have been arrested on Jan. 6 expenses. The group’s former nationwide chairman, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to 22 years in jail — the longest for a Capitol riot case thus far. A jury convicted Tarrio and three lieutenants of seditious conspiracy expenses for a failed plot to maintain Donald Trump in energy after the Republican misplaced the 2020 election.
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