Prosecutors said Guy Refitt told fellow Texas Three Percenters militia group he planned to drag US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol by her ankles, “with her head banging every step of the way.” according to a court. archiving. Refitt was the first person to stand trial for the January 6, 2021 attack, in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump disrupted a joint session of Congress in an attempt to prevent them from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who presided over Reffitt’s jury trial in Washington, also sentenced him to three years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution. WATCHES | Trump ‘chose not to act’ in attack on US Capitol, panel says:

Trump ‘chose not to act’ during US Capitol attack, panel says

Despite desperate pleas from aides, allies, Republican congressional leaders and even his own family, Donald Trump refused to call off the Jan. 6 mob attack on the US Capitol, the House Select Committee investigating the insurgency said Thursday .

U.S. Justice Department prosecutors recommended a 15-year prison sentence for Refitt, who has already been incarcerated for about 19 months. They said he was part of a militia group that intended to drag lawmakers out of the building and take over Congress to stop certification of the Electoral College vote. Sentencing guidelines calculated by the court’s probation division called for a sentence ranging from nine years to 11 years and three months. Prosecutors argued that an “upward departure for terrorism” was warranted in Reffitt’s case. The longest sentence before Reffitt was five years and three months, for two men who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers on Capitol Hill. Defense attorney Clinton Broden asked that Reffitt be sentenced to no more than two years in prison, noting that Reffitt did not attack any law enforcement officers or enter the Capitol building. The videos captured the confrontation between outnumbered Capitol Police officers and a crowd of people, including Refitt, who approached them on the west side of the Capitol. PHOTOS | Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building: Reffitt was armed with a Smith & Wesson handgun in a holster on his waist and was wearing body armor and a helmet equipped with a video camera when he approached officers and was also handcuffed with zip ties, according to prosecutors. He retreated after an officer pepper-sprayed him in the face, but he waved off other rioters who eventually breached the building, prosecutors said.

Children testified that Reffitt threatened them

Reffitt did not testify at his trial before a jury convicted him in March of all five counts in his indictment. The jury found him guilty of obstructing a joint session of Congress, interfering with police officers outside the Capitol and threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement. Refitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified that his father told him and his sister, then 16, that they would be traitors if they reported him to the authorities and warned them that “traitors get shot.” Guy Reffitt was a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia group, according to prosecutors. The Three Percenters movement refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought in the Revolutionary War against the British. A person wearing militia gear and a Three Percenters Punisher patch appears at a rally in Stone Mountain, Ga., in August 2020. Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia, was convicted of breaking into the U.S. Capitol while wearing a holstered pistol, helmet and armor during the uprising on January 6, 2021. (Dustin Chambers/Reuters) Reffitt lived with his wife and children in Wylie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He drove to Washington, DC, along with Rocky Hardie, a member of the militia group. Hardy testified that they were both armed with handguns when they attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before the riot. Hardy also said Refit gave him two pairs of zip-tie cuffs in case someone needed to be restrained. More than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot, and more than 340 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. More than 220 have been convicted, with nearly half serving prison terms. About 150 others have trial dates that stretch through 2023. Reffitt is one of seven Capitol riot defendants tried by a jury so far. Jurors unanimously convicted all seven of all counts in their respective indictments.