Longest prison sentence so far for storming Capitol | Abroad

Reffitt is part of the Three Percenters. During the first trial in March, he was already found guilty of five crimes.

On the day of the storm, Reffitt led the first group to invade Congress. Among other things, he helped by breaking the police lines. In addition to a gun, the man also had a bulletproof vest, a helmet and plastic handcuffs.

Reffitt withdrew from the battle after being sprayed with an irritating gas. Many others, meanwhile, were wreaking havoc inside the Capitol. “I didn’t go in, but I helped fan the fire,” Reffitt boasted in a video afterwards. Prosecutors had videoed the storming showing Reffitt addressing the crowd from the outposts, qualifying him as a “leader.”

The prosecutors had asked the judge to also sentence Reffitt for terrorism, but the court did not agree. As for them, he had to go to prison for fifteen years. Reffitt’s lawyers insisted that he did not enter the parliament building and did not commit any violence.

Upon his return to Wylie (near the Texas city of Dallas; ed.) he threatened his two children to prevent them from reporting their father. “Traitors are killed,” he said in a conversation his 19-year-old son Jackson recorded and delivered to the FBI.

More than 850 people have been arrested for storming the Capitol, 330 of whom have pleaded guilty. Only a dozen of them have already been tried. The heaviest prison sentence to date was five years and three months.

In addition to this judicial component, a committee in the House of Representatives is trying to clarify the role of former President Donald Trump in the violence. Their report is expected before the midterm elections this fall.