WASHINGTON: A Minnesota man who repeatedly attacked law enforcement officials throughout the U.S. Capitol riot, wielded a police baton as a weapon and stole two riot shields was sentenced on Thursday to almost three years in jail.

Brian Mock, 44, helped take away two police barricades earlier than he assaulted 4 officers throughout the Jan. 6, 2021, siege. He shoved one of many officers within the chest and knocked him onto the bottom, the place different rioters kicked and hit him.

Mock requested for leniency earlier than Chief Judge James Boasberg sentenced him to 2 years and 9 months in jail.

“I’m not someone who showed up in tactical gear, with tasers and bear spray,” he stated. “It’s a moment that I got caught up in.”

But the choose stated Mock clearly got here to Washington, D.C., anticipating violence on Jan. 6.

“So it’s hard to think you came simply as a bystander,” Boasberg stated.

Boasberg convicted Mock of all 11 counts in his indictment, together with felony assault prices, after listening to testimony with out a jury. Mock testified and represented himself at his July 2023 trial.

Prosecutors really useful sentencing Mock to 9 years and one month in jail. He’ll get credit score for the almost one 12 months that he spent in jail awaiting trial.

Mock stated jail was a traumatic expertise for him. The choose famous that Jan. 6 was a “scarring” expertise for the officers whom he assaulted.

“These were searing moments for them and searing moments for the country,” Boasberg added.

Mock, a landscaping firm proprietor and former debt collector, was arrested in June 2021 on riot-related prices. He wasn’t charged with coming into the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Mock recruited his girlfriend and one other buddy to drive with him to Washington, D.C., for then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6. Before leaving, Mock advised his oldest son that he would possibly die there.

Mock was the main focus of a New York Times article that explored his relationship together with his oldest son. Prosecutors cited Mock’s feedback to the newspaper as proof of his lack of regret and refusal to just accept accountability for his crimes.

“The Court cannot have any confidence that Mock would not engage in the exact same behavior in the future if he thought it was justified, if he thought — again — that it was a necessary and righteous response to what he perceived as tyranny,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom submitting.

Defense lawyer Michelle Peterson stated Mock went to Washington as a result of he believed there have been “irregularities” within the 2020 presidential election that ought to be investigated.

“He is not an idealogue but rather is someone with firm beliefs that are on both sides of the political spectrum,” Peterson wrote.

Prosecutors stated Mock has a “disturbing history of violence,” together with prices that he assaulted his ex-wife in 2009. The girl later stated she determined in opposition to pursuing the home violence prices as a result of Mock blackmailed her and threatened to get her fired from her job, in line with prosecutors.

The FBI stated Mock additionally has a 2010 conviction on a weapon cost. The conviction stems from a 2009 incident during which Mock allegedly pointed a gun on the heads of three youngsters and threatened to shoot them throughout his oldest son’s birthday celebration. Mock refused to depart his home after a SWAT workforce arrived.

“Instead, he barricaded himself inside with his gun, shaved his head, and told the police they would have to get a warrant,” prosecutors wrote. “Many hours later, a police negotiator finally coaxed Mock outside.”

After Mock’s arrest on Jan. 6 prices, the then-girlfriend who joined him in Washington obtained a restraining order in opposition to him “because she felt scared of his behavior and potential behavior in the aftermath of their breakup,” prosecutors stated.

“Mock cannot claim that violence was restricted to one time of his life or one set of relationships,” they wrote.

The choose who convicted and sentenced Mock described a few of his trial testimony as “silly,” together with his declare that he was referring to singer Nancy Sinatra — not then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — when he posted a Facebook message on Jan. 1, 2021, that stated, “Well Nancy, that ain’t the worst thing that’s going to happen to you this week.”

Approximately 1,300 individuals have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Capitol assault. Over 800 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving jail phrases starting from a couple of days to 22 years.

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