“Mr. Refitt’s reluctance to admit early on that his conduct is unlawful is troubling,” District Judge Dabney Friedrich said before handing down the 87-month sentence. “And I want to be very clear … under any legal definition of the term ‘patriot’ (Mr Reffitt’s conduct on and around January 6th fits the term. It is the antithesis of the word). Friedrich added: “The officers in the Capitol are the patriots, as well as those who have fought and even died to protect our democracy, the rule of law…those in the mob are not. Not only are they not patriots, but” is a direct threat to our democracy and will be punished as such.” Reffitt was convicted by a D.C. jury in March of five felonies, including transporting and carrying a weapon on Capitol Hill, interfering with Capitol Police and obstructing an official proceeding. He had driven into DC with several firearms, one of which he brought with him to the steps of the Capitol in the early morning hours of the riot.
“I just want to see Pelosi’s head hit every single stairwell on the way out … And (Republican Leader) Mitch McConnell, too,” Reffitt said, according to a video he made of himself on Jan. 6. The heavy sentence, combined with the fact that every Jan. 6 defendant who faces a jury is convicted, could deter some of the hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants awaiting trial from taking deals offered by the Justice Department instead. The 87-month sentence is two years longer than any other Capitol Hill sentence imposed so far. Reffitt has been adamant in previous hearings about being the first defendant on Jan. 6 to take his case to trial. But on Monday, in an appeal for leniency ahead of his sentencing, he said he was a “stupid idiot” parroting “founders and fools” around January 6 and doubled down on that rhetoric to “raise money” for the family during his legal battle. “It looks like you wanted to be the big guy, the important guy, the first guy to go to trial … the first guy up there, to feast on the press,” Friedrich told Refitt. “You want to be an important person who makes a difference, but you’re doing it in the wrong ways.” “Exactly my point, your honor,” said Refitt. Refitt’s wife and two daughters were in the courtroom when the sentence was handed down. Reffitt’s youngest daughter, Peyton, told the judge that her father is “not a threat to my family” and that her family “turned a blind eye” to his mental health problems. “My father’s name wasn’t on all the flags that were there that day, that everybody was carrying that day. He’s not the chief,” Peyton said through tears, sometimes pausing with her hand over her heart. The mother of Ashli ​​Babbitt, the pro-Trump rioter who was shot and killed by police on Jan. 6, was also in the courtroom at times Monday. Reffitt’s son Jackson, who testified against his father during the trial, was not in the courtroom. In a statement read aloud by prosecutors, Jackson said his father “slowly lost himself over the last five years” but that “whether you see him as a father, a family member or a friend, using those labels to justify anything he has done is completely wrong.” Prosecutors had asked for a sentence nearly a decade longer than the most severe sentence to date, adding enhanced penalties to his terrorism sentence. Prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler told the judge that Reffitt “wanted to physically and literally remove members of Congress from office” and that the government believes “what he did that day was terrorism.” “We believe he is a domestic terrorist,” Nestler said Monday. Friedrich did not add additional penalties for terrorism, however, saying it would create an “unwarranted disparity” between Refitt’s sentence and other rioters convicted of having weapons or threatening deputies. This story has been updated with additional details.