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What Happened to the Jan. 6 Rioters Arrested Since the Capitol Attack

19 minute read
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More than 1,033 people have been arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, with charges ranging from obstruction of an official proceeding to assault. But 28 months after the attempted insurrection, a significant number of rioters are still awaiting their sentencing.

Around 47% of those arrested—485 individuals—have received criminal sentences, while the rest are waiting for their trials or haven’t yet reached plea agreements. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, 277 defendants were sentenced to periods of incarceration, with longer prison terms for those who engaged in violence or threats. So far, the median prison sentence for the Jan. 6 rioters is 60 days, according to TIME’s calculation of the public records. An additional 113 rioters have been sentenced to periods of home detention, while most sentences have included fines, community service and probation for low-level offenses like illegally parading or demonstrating in the Capitol, which is a misdemeanor.

Read More: For the Jan. 6 Rioters, Justice Is Still Coming

Hundreds of additional cases are expected to be adjudicated in the coming months, with a number of sentencing hearings already on the calendar this summer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still looking for more than 220 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds.

Here’s a look at what happened to 20 of the most high-profile Jan. 6 rioters.

Stewart Rhodes: 18 years in prison

Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers
Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on seditious conspiracy charges.Aaron C. Davis–The Washington Post via Getty Images

The longest sentence given to anyone charged in the Jan. 6 riot to date went to far-right Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced on May 25 to 18 years in prison after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in helping orchestrate the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol.

Prosecutors said that Rhodes, 58, was the mastermind behind a plot to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election, marshaling dozens of followers across the country to descend on Washington on Jan. 6. During an eight-week trial last fall, prosecutors revealed thousands of messages between Rhodes and other members of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia group, in advance of the Capitol attack, including one where Rhodes told his followers to prepare their “mind, body, spirit” for “civil war.” Rhodes and his followers converged on the Capitol after assembling an arsenal of weapons and setting up “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel that could deploy guns into the nation’s capital if needed to support their plot, according to court documents.

“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, to the republic and to the very fabric of our democracy,” said U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta during Rhodes’ sentencing. A Yale Law graduate and military veteran, Rhodes is the first member of the Jan. 6 mob to be convicted of seditious conspiracy, a rarely-used charge for when two or more people conspire to “overthrow, put down or to destroy by force” the U.S. government or bring war against it. The charge can also be brought against people who plot to use force to oppose the authority of the government or to block the execution of a law.

Mehta agreed with prosecutors to classify his crimes as an act of terrorism against the government, a categorization that sharply increased his ultimate sentence.

Peter Schwartz: 14 years and 2 months in prison

The man who attacked police officers at the Capitol with pepper spray and a chair was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison, the second-longest penalty handed down so far in connection with the events of Jan. 6.

Prosecutors said that Schwartz, a 49-year-old Pennsylvania welder, enabled hundreds of rioters to impede officers when he threw a folding chair at police near the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. He then seized a police duffle bag full of pepper-spray canisters and handed them out to others in the mob, including his wife, so they could be used against officers.

Court documents reveal that Schwartz had bragged about his participation in the riot, referring to the Capitol attack as the “opening of a war” in a Facebook post a day after the riot. He has raised over $71,000 from an online campaign entitled “Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC.”

Thomas Webster: 10 years in prison

Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer and Marine Corps veteran, was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus three years of supervised release for swinging a metal flagpole at police before tackling one officer and yanking his gas mask off on Jan. 6.

Federal prosecutors were seeking a prison term of more than 17 years for Webster, 56, of Goshen, N.Y., who was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense argument. In May 2022, a jury rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask outside the U.S. Capitol building.

“Mr. Webster, I don’t think you’re a bad person,” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said. “I think you were caught up in a moment. But as you know, even getting caught up in a moment has consequences.”

After the trial, Webster apologized to Rathbun, who was in the courtroom. “I wish the horrible events of that day had never happened,” Webster told the judge.

Albuquerque Cosper Head: 90 months in prison

The man who dragged Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone into the mob of rioters was sentenced in October 2022 to seven and a half years in prison—one of the harshest sentences yet for a member of the mob that stormed the Capitol.

Read More: What Mike Fanone Can’t Forget

Head, 43, of Kingsport, Tenn., admitted that he grabbed Fanone around the neck and told the crowd around him, “I got one!” Head then forcibly hauled Fanone down the Capitol steps and into the mob, where Fanone was beaten, kicked, robbed of his badge and radio, and attacked with a stun gun. Fanone has since emerged as an outspoken advocate for the Capitol police who were subject to the mob violence on Jan. 6.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson described Head’s attack on Fanone as one of the most chilling moments of violence during the day. “He was your prey,” Jackson said. “He was your trophy.”

Guy Wesley Reffitt: 87 months in prison

Reffitt was the first defendant to go on trial in the Justice Department’s criminal inquiry into the Jan. 6 attack. The 49-year-old from Wylie, Tex. was armed with a handgun and zip ties as he attempted to storm the Capitol, while his car was allegedly loaded with rifles and ammo. He was sentenced in August 2022 to more than seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty on five felony charges, including obstructing Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election, carrying a .40-caliber pistol during the riot, and two counts of civil disorder. Unlike others who were sentenced in connection to the riot, Reffitt did not go inside the Capitol.

Prosecutors had asked that Reffitt be sentenced to 15 years in prison for committing acts of what they claimed as domestic terrorism, but Judge Dabney L. Friedrich rejected those terms. In addition to his 87-month prison term, Reffitt was ordered to serve three years of probation, pay $2,000 in restitution, and receive mental health treatment.

During the trial, Reffitt’s son Jackson took the stand to testify that his father had become radicalized in the months leading up to Jan. 6, and had threatened both him and his sister in an attempt to dissuade them from speaking to authorities. “Traitors get shot,” he told them, according to his son. Jackson Reffitt tipped off the FBI about his father before Jan. 6, and then recorded his dad bragging about his participation in the riot.

Prosecutors said that Reffitt was involved with the Texas Three Percenters, a loosely organized militia movement, and sent messages recruiting people to accompany him to Washington on Jan. 6.

Thomas Robertson: 87 months in prison

Robertson, a former Virginia police officer and Army veteran, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison after he was found guilty by a jury of six crimes. Prosecutors said that Robertson, 49, used a large wooden stick to block the path of officers who tried to stop the mob and destroyed his phone when he got home.

During the trial, prosecutors told the jury that Robertson had bragged on social media about his actions on Jan. 6 and posted a picture of himself at the Capitol. “It shows 2 men willing to actually put skin in the game and stand up for their rights,” Robertson wrote on Facebook, according to prosecutors. “If you are too much of a coward to risk arrest, being fired, and actual gunfire to secure your rights, you have no words to speak I value.”

Robert Scott Palmer: 63 months in prison

Robert Scott Palmer uses a fire extinguisher against police at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Robert Scott Palmer uses a fire extinguisher against police at the Capitol on Jan. 6.Lev Radin—Pacific Press/Shutterstock

The Florida man who hurled wooden boards and a fire extinguisher at police officers guarding the Lower West Terrace tunnel of the Capitol was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.

“Defendant’s repeated violent assaults on law enforcement for the purpose of overturning a democratic election warrant a significant term of imprisonment,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Juman wrote in the sentencing memo.

Palmer, age 54 at his sentencing, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon. His plea agreement originally called for a 46 to 57 month sentence, but it was increased to 63 months after he wrote on his fundraising website that he had acted in self-defense, contradicting his earlier comments in court about taking responsibility for his actions.

Richard Barnett: 54 months in prison

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-ELECTION-TRUMP
Richard Barnett sits inside the office of Nancy Pelosi.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images

Barnett was photographed with his foot on a desk in Pelosi’s office during the violence at the Capitol.

He was found guilty by a jury on eight counts in January 2023, and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on May 24. In April 2021, he spent nearly four months in jail on charges including obstructing an official proceeding, entering the Capitol while armed with a deadly or dangerous weapon (a stun gun), and theft of government property (for stealing a piece of government mail). Federal prosecutors say Barnett deleted all of his iCloud data related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a court filing.

Devlyn Thompson: 46 months in prison

Thompson took part in the rioting for nearly three hours on Jan. 6, during which time he assaulted a police officer with a metal baton. He also tried to throw a speaker at the police, but missed and ended up injuring another rioter.

Thompson later pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon. In December 2021, Federal District Court Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced the 28-year-old Thompson to 46 months in prison with credit for time served, along with 36 months of supervised release and a required payment of $2,000 in restitution.

“You didn’t just come up and sock a guy in the face,” Lamberth said at the sentencing. “You’re shoving and pushing…and participating in this riot for hours.” Thompson apologized to the officer he hit with the baton in a letter filed in court.

Lonnie Leroy Coffman: 46 months in prison

Coffman drove to Capitol Hill from Alabama on Jan. 6, 2021, in a pickup truck loaded with powerful weapons, and is believed to have been the most heavily armed defendant during the attack. In his truck, investigators found a small arsenal of molotov cocktails, a 9mm handgun, a rifle, a shotgun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, a crossbow with bolts, machetes, camouflage smoke detectors and gas-filled Mason jars used to make napalm (a kind of homemade bomb). Coffman, age 72 at his sentencing in April 2022, was also carrying two handguns at the time of his arrest. All the guns were loaded.

“I don’t think I’ve seen in all my years as a judge, quite such a collection of weapons,” said U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, according to The Washington Post.

During the trial, neither Coffman nor his lawyer offered an explanation as to why he brought such weaponry to the Capitol. Although he wandered away from his truck and never used any of them, his sentence is one of the longest imposed in the Capitol attack investigation. “I wish that I had stayed home,” Coffman told the judge from a remote video screen in jail. He pleaded guilty to possession of unregistered weapons and was sentenced to 46 months in prison in April 2022.

Nicholas Languerand: 44 months in prison

Court documents show that Languerand, a QAnon follower, threw various objects at officers with the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department, including an orange traffic barrier and two stick-like objects. The officers were protecting the Lower West Terrace entrance to the Capitol.

Prosecutors claimed the items were capable of inflicting serious bodily injury based on the size and weight of the objects, as well as the speed and force with which Languerand threw them. During his trial, investigators said he showed little remorse and indicated that he wanted to see more violence, alleging he had sent a message to an associate that read, “Violence isn’t always the answer but in the face of tyranny violence may be the only answer,” and “Next time we come back with rifles.”

Languerand, age 26 at his sentencing, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. He was sentenced to 44 months in prison, followed by mandatory two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to perform 60 hours of community service and to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Jacob Anthony Chansley: 41 months in prison

Congress Holds Joint Session To Ratify 2020 Presidential Election
Jacob Anthony Chansley inside the Senate Chamber.Win McNamee—Getty Images

Chansley—a self-described shaman and a follower of the QAnon conspiracy theory—is one of the most recognizable Jan. 6 rioters, thanks to viral photographs of his outlandish getup.

According to court documents, Chansley confessed to federal agents that he was the man photographed in former Vice President Mike Pence’s chair on the Senate dais with his face painted, wearing a horned headdress and no shirt. His imposing image became a symbol of the Jan. 6 attack, though he later expressed regret for storming the Capitol.

“What you did was terrible. You made yourself the epitome of the riot,” Lamberth said in November 2021. “You didn’t slug anybody, but what you did here was actually obstruct the functioning of the whole government. It’s a serious crime.”

Chansley, age 34 at his sentencing, pleaded guilty to one charge: obstruction of an official proceeding. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison.

Scott Kevin Fairlamb: 41 months in prison

Videos from the Capitol riot show Fairlamb climbing on inauguration scaffolding, pushing a police officer into a group of people and punching the officer’s face shield. Court filings also indicate that Fairlamb briefly entered the Capitol.

In one video he posted to Facebook on Jan. 6, Fairlamb yells: “What patriots do? We f—n’ disarm them and then we storm the f—n’ Capitol.”

Fairlamb, age 44 at his sentencing, pleaded guilty in August 2021 to assaulting an officer and obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison, with credit for time served, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution for damages to the building.

Greg Rubenacker: 41 months in prison

The Long Island DJ who recorded himself smoking marijuana inside the U.S. Capitol building was sentenced to three years and five months in prison after pleading guilty to all 10 charges he faced, including civil disorder and committing an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds.

Court documents show Rubenacker, age 26 at his sentencing, engaged in a series of confrontations with law enforcement while inside the Capitol, and was among the small crowd that chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs outside the Senate Chamber. Prosecutors said Rubenacker resisted officers who were trying to force the rioters from the area, swinging a plastic water bottle at one officer’s head and spraying water from the bottle. He also posted a video of himself smoking a joint on Snapchat with the caption “Smoke out the Capitol, baby.”

Following his prison term, Rubenacker will be placed on three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Matthew Ryan Miller: 33 months in prison

Draped in a Confederate flag, the 21-year-old Maryland man was seen on video throwing objects at police officers and scaling the walls of the Capitol building. According to court documents, Miller, age 23 at his sentencing in May 2022, threw a full beer can and batteries in the direction of law enforcement. He also sprayed a fire extinguisher directly into the tunnel onto police officers. His lawyer claimed he was drunk and high at the time.

After scaling a Capitol wall using a metal barrier as a ladder, Miller urged others in the mob to join him. He assisted rioters, waved his hands and said multiple times “Come on” as the crowd chanted “Heave! Ho!” He also urged the mob to help him push against law enforcement officers on the Lower West Terrace, putting up his fingers and yelling “One, two, three, push!” multiple times.

Following his prison term, Miller will be placed on 24 months of supervised release and must pay $2,000 in restitution. He must also complete 100 hours of community service.

Cleveland Meredith, Jr.: 28 months in prison

Meredith traveled from Colorado to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally that led to the attempted insurrection at the Capitol, but later told investigators that he arrived too late in the evening. The day afterward, on Jan. 7, he sent a family member in Georgia a text message threatening to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Meredith’s mother contacted the FBI, and members located him at a Holiday Inn a mile from the Capitol.

Meredith gave investigators consent to search his phone, along with his truck and trailer outside. The FBI discovered texts in which he threatened to assassinate Pelosi and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser. He had sent a text earlier that day that said, “Calm before the STORM,” seemingly referring to a cataclysmic event in which QAnon followers believed that Donald Trump would expose a cabal of satanic pedophiles. In the search of Meredith’s trailer, the FBI found an assault rifle, a nine millimeter pistol and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Meredith, age 53 at his sentencing, pleaded guilty to communicating a threat across state lines. In December 2021, he received a sentence of 28 months in prison with credit for time served.

Michael Curzio: 6 months in prison

Curzio, who has ties with a white supremacist gang and was at the front of the crowd on Jan. 6, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count and served the maximum sentence of six months in jail. He participated in the Capitol riot just two years after he was released from an eight-year prison sentence for attempted murder.

Justice Department lawyers said Curzio had an “undisputed history” of membership with an extremist group known as the Unforgiven, a violent, white supremacist gang operating both inside and outside of the Florida corrections system. “At the time of his arrest, he bore tattoos with Nazi symbology associated with that gang and was wearing a necklace with a Thor’s-hammer pendant,” the Justice Department wrote. “While he claims the pendant is a representation of sincere religious belief, Thor’s hammer is also known to be a white-supremacist symbol.

Curzio, age 35 at his sentencing, was released from prison in July 2021.

Gracyn Dawn Courtright: 1 month in prison

Capitol Breach Sentencings
Gracyn Dawn Courtright carrying a sign that reads 'members only' in the Capitol.Department of Justice/AP

While she was inside the Capitol, Courtright, then age 23 and a senior at the University of Kentucky, took a photo of herself in a mirror and afterward posted it to Instagram, along with the words, “INFAMY IS JUST AS GOOD AS FAME.” She shared her participation in the riot on Instagram multiple times, and someone took a screenshot and reported her.

Footage from Jan. 6 shows Courtright on the second floor of the Capitol building, holding up a “Members Only” sign. Authorities arrested her two weeks later and she faced multiple charges, including for theft of the sign.

Courtright pleaded guilty to a charge of entering a restricted building in August, at which point other charges against her were dropped. In December 2021, she was sentenced to one month in prison. In addition, she has a year of supervised release following her sentence, will need to complete 60 hours of community service and must pay $500 in restitution for damages to the Capitol.

Following her arrest, Courtright withdrew from college.

Robert Chapman: 18 months of probation

One week after Jan. 6, Chapman told someone on the dating app Bumble that he took part in the riot. “I did storm the capitol,” he wrote in a message. “I made it all the way to Statuary Hall!” The person Chapman confessed to then replied, “We are not a match.”

Later that day, the person Chapman communicated with on Bumble contacted the FBI. Federal investigators matched Chapman’s Bumble profile to images of him inside the Capitol building. They identified him by working with New York State authorities and matching his likeness to a 2017 mugshot, in which he had the same distinctive sideburns.

In December 2021, Chapman, at age 51, pleaded guilty to “parading, demonstrating or picketing” in a Capitol building. He was later sentenced to 3 months of home detention, followed by 18 months of probation, and was ordered to pay a $742 fine and $500 restitution.

Matthew Greene: Awaiting sentencing

Greene was the first self-identified member of the Proud Boys—a far-right extremist group—to plead guilty to obstructing Congress and conspiring to obstruct law enforcement during the Capitol attack.

Court documents indicate Greene, age 34 at the time of his plea, was “among the first wave” to rush up the Capitol steps after the police line was breached. He faces up to 25 years in prison, although prosecutors plan to recommend a sentence of 41 to 50 months because he agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. In March 2022, Greene was allowed out of jail and placed in home confinement until he is sentenced.

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Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com and Julia Zorthian at julia.zorthian@time.com