Stiff sentence for Jan 6 defendant

A Nampa [Idaho] man who forced his way into the U.S. Capitol Building and assaulted officers during a failed coup to stop Congress from certifying the result of the 2020 presidential election was sentenced Friday to four years and three months in federal prison.

The sentence imposed on 68-year-old Duke Wilson is among the longest yet handed down to any participant in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. He is one of six Idahoans charged with participating in the attack on the Capitol, and the first to be sentenced.

Wilson, who pleaded guilty in September to assaulting a federal officer and obstructing an official proceeding, told the judge that he had not intended to harm anyone.

[...]

But once inside the Lower West Terrace tunnels, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice said, videos of the chaos show that Wilson was "among the most aggressive people in that crowd."

As a line of officers struggled to hold back the mob, Wilson hit and shoved members of the Capitol Police. Body camera video and clips uploaded to YouTube show him push an officer to the ground, wrench a riot shield from another, and use a PVC pipe to strike and jab at officers before flinging it at them.

[...]

Even after being pepper-sprayed, the Nampa man continued to attack, Tortorice said. "Mr. Wilson is not trying to retreat, he is not shying away from engagement with the officers - he is aggressively pursuing them," he said.

[...]

Wilson said he entered the lower west terrace tunnels after another member of the mob motioned him inside, telling the judge he got hit in the head during the chaos, and can recall very little of his conduct in the riot.

"I didn't have a plan. There was no plan to do any of this," he said. "Some of the videos they showed me, I can't believe I was doing anything like that."

[...]

In a statement before the sentence was handed down, Wilson said that he was sorry for what he had done, adding that he had "made a very bad decision."

  KTVB7

Indeed.

In addition to the prison time, Wilson will spend three years on supervised probation. Restitution for his role in the riot will be set at a later date, Lamberth ruled.

Wilson will be allowed to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his term.

Seems a bit risky.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.