Guy Wesley Reffitt, 49, of Wylie, Texas, was convicted in federal court in March of five felonies, including obstruction of justice and entering and remaining in a prohibited building or premises with a firearm. Federal prosecutors at the US Department of Justice had asked that Refitt be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors had also — for the first time — asked a federal district court judge to apply a terrorism enhancement, which would have effectively defined as a matter of law that a rioter’s actions amounted to domestic terrorism. “We believe what he did that day was domestic terrorism, and we believe he is a domestic terrorist,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said Monday. But the judge overseeing Reffitt’s case, Dabney Friedrich, rejected the request, saying there have been many other defendants since the Jan. 6 attack where the DOJ chose not to pursue the enhancement of terrorism despite their conduct appearing much more serious and threatening. of what Refit was convicted of at trial. Reffitt’s attorney, Clinton Broden, argued that the Justice Department was unfairly trying to make an example of Reffitt simply by taking his case to trial. “This is the only case where the government has pleaded terrorism enhancement and this is the only case where the defendant has gone to trial,” Broden said. “I don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to figure that out.” Reffitt is among more than 850 people charged in connection with the deadly breach of the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, which disrupted a joint session of Congress called to ascertain and count electoral votes related to 2020 presidential election. More than 200 defendants have already pleaded guilty to various misdemeanor and felony charges, with some facing years in prison. Reffitt’s attorney, Clinton Broden, asked that his client be sentenced to no more than two years. He said he was shocked by the prosecution’s recommendation since his client was not charged with entering the Capitol or assaulting police officers that day. “It’s absolutely absurd,” Broden told The Associated Press during a phone interview last month. “I certainly don’t condone what Mr Reffitt did. And I think everyone realizes the seriousness of the offences. But at the same time, there has to be some proportionality here.” Federal sentencing guidelines in Reffitt’s case called for a prison term of nine to 11 years and three months. During the trial, prosecutors sought to frame Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia group, as the leader of one of the first waves of the mob to breach the Capitol from the west side of the building. Videos played in court showed Reffitt climbing a stone railing near where scaffolding had been erected ahead of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, and Reffitt confronting US Capitol police officers who warned him to back down before firing less-than-lethal shots ammunition and pepper spray to stop his advance. Other videos shown in court showed Reffitt gesturing to the crowd behind him in an attempt to get them to go up the stairs to several entrances leading to the building. At one point in the trial, prosecutors played first-person footage that Reffitt had recorded with a 360-degree camera mounted on his helmet while he was in the crowd at the “Save America” ​​rally before the attack. “We’re taking the Capitol before the day is out,” Reffitt says in the video. “Everybody’s in tune on this one… they’re being dragged out kicking and screaming.” “I didn’t come here to play games … I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every stair on the way out,” he says later. “I think we have the numbers to pull it off … without firing a shot.” The Justice Department’s case also relied on two key witnesses: Rocky Hardie, a former member of the Texas Three Percenters, who testified against Reffitt in exchange for immunity for cooperation, and Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, who filed an electronic advice. to the FBI who first alerted them to his father’s plans weeks before the riot, ultimately leading to Reffitt’s arrest on January 16, 2021. During an interview with ABC News from prison last December, Reffitt said he “never expected this to happen.” “This has been devastating for me and my family, especially my girls, my son — actually, my whole family,” Refit told ABC News.