A Virginia man who assaulted police with a stolen baton and used a flashing strobe light to disorient officers trying to defend the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison.
Geoffrey Sills of Mechanicsville, Virginia, was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of Congress and robbery for his role in the violence in the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace tunnel, where police were beaten and crushed as they tried to subdue the angry crowd. of supporters of President Donald Trump.
The 31-year-old has already served a year and a half behind bars since his arrest in June 2021.
via the Associated Press
In a separate case on Tuesday, a judge declared a mistrial after jurors disagreed on whether a man described as the Oath Keepers’ “chief operating officer” for Jan. 6 was guilty of obstruction. Michael Greene was acquitted of all other felony charges Monday but convicted of a lesser offense. Greene is the only defendant in three trials involving more than a dozen members and associates of the far-right group not to be convicted of a felony charge.
Sills — who arrived at the Capitol wearing a gas mask and goggles — threw several pole-like objects at police, stole a police baton from an officer and struck at least two officers with it, according to prosecutors. He also flashed a strobe light on a row of officers in the tunnel.
Sills posted videos of his and others’ actions on social media that day before deleting his account, prosecutors say. In one post – showing officers in riot gear – Sills wrote: “Visited the Capitol today.” In another post depicting rioters flooding the tunnel, he wrote: “I walked.”
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden found Sills guilty in August after a mistrial, an unusual legal procedure in which defendants plead not guilty to the charges but agree with the government that some of the facts are true.
Prosecutors asked for nine years behind bars, writing in court documents that Sills “has expressed little remorse and remorse.” Prosecutors argued his social media posts “were from a man who was proud of his actions”.
Sills’ attorney wrote in court documents that his client did not come to Washington on Jan. 6 with any intent to commit violence and was only wearing a gas mask and tactical gear “because he feared a terrorist attack.”
“That day did not come planning or expecting to cause violence. There is no evidence that he harmed anyone. He went because his president asked him to. Once there, he entered a vortex that was not of his making,” attorney John Kiyonaga wrote. After the ruling, an email was sent to Kiyonaga seeking comment.
Sills is among about 1,000 people who have been charged with federal crimes in the riot that left dozens of police officers injured. More than 300 people have been charged with assaulting, resisting or obstructing officers, including more than 100 people charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury.
More than half of those indicted on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty, including more than 130 who pleaded guilty to felonies. Of the 400 convicted, more than half received sentences ranging from seven days to 10 years, according to an Associated Press tally.
In the Oath Keepers case, jurors on Monday found four defendants guilty of conspiracy and obstruction: Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio; Laura Steele, of Thomasville, North Carolina; William Isaacs, of Kissimmee, Florida; and Connie Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida.
Sandra Parker’s husband, Bennie Parker, was acquitted Monday of obstruction charges and one count of conspiracy, and Greene was acquitted of two counts of conspiracy. The judge instructed jurors to continue deliberating after saying he could not reach a verdict on another conspiracy charge for Bennie Parker and an obstruction charge for Greene.
On Tuesday, the jury returned a guilty verdict for Bennie Parker on the other conspiracy charge, but blocked the obstruction charge for Greene.
Greene, of Indianapolis, Indiana, said he was not a paying member of the Oath Keepers but essentially worked as a contractor, providing security services. He took the witness stand during the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes and told jurors that Rhodes asked him to come to Washington to help with security operations for events around the Capitol before the riot. Greene did not enter the Capitol and told jurors he had not heard anyone discuss plans to do so.
Greene’s attorney, William Shipley, said Tuesday that “the government’s case was a farce,” adding that it “makes no sense and the jury saw it for what it was.”
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