Guy Reffitt was sentenced on Monday to just over seven years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, NBC News reports.
Reffitt was found guilty in March on all five charges, including transport of a firearm in support of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He was the first person involved in the Capitol insurrection to reject a plea agreement and take his case to trial.
The Justice Department sought a 15-year sentence for Reffitt on the grounds that he committed an act of domestic terrorism. The 49-year-old traveled from Texas to Washington, D.C. with rifles, handguns, and ammunition in his vehicle. He tried to storm the Capitol with a pistol and zip ties in his possession with the intent of harming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every fucking stair on the way out. … And Mitch McConnell too,” he said in a video he took on Jan. 6.
Reffitt was subdued before he could enter the building. He attempted to appeal to District Judge Dabney Friedrich by issuing an apology and establishing that he was no longer associated with any groups who tried to overthrow the election. He also acknowledged being “a fucking idiot” on that notorious day in U.S. history.
“Mr. Reffitt’s reluctance to admit early that his behavior is illegal is concerning,” Friedrich said prior to his sentencing, per CNN. “And I want to be very clear…under no legitimate definition of the term ‘patriot’ (does) Mr. Reffitt’s behavior on and around January 6 fit the term. It is the antithesis of the word.”
Reffitt was given 87 months behind bars, along with three years of probation and mandatory mental health treatment. He will also be required to pay $2,000 in restitution.
