WASHINGTON — The defendant who carried a Confederate flag into the Capitol and wore “I ❤️ TRUMP” pants and attacked police officers with chemical spray, partially blinding two of them for hours, was sentenced Monday to 30 months in prison.
Isreal Easterday, 23, was arrested in December 2022 in Florida and pleaded guilty in October to several counts of civil disorder and assault on officers.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg sentenced Easterday to 30 months in prison, 500 hours of community service and $2,000 in restitution.
The government searched for 151 months — or more than 12.5 years — in federal prison, saying his “egregious behavior” was part of a mass riot that “nearly blocked a certification vote, obstructed the peaceful transition of presidential power, and led to a power outcry. United The states have entered a constitutional crisis.”
Prosecutors called the Confederate battle flag — which was flown to the eastern gates of the Confederate States of America on Easter Sunday, where Abraham Lincoln’s body passed after his assassination in 1865 — “an established symbol of racism” as well as “a symbol of treason, of civil disobedience.” law and rebellion.”
Advocates of Easter he said came to Washington after his uncle “invited him to tag along with a bunch of Trump supporters.” They said Easter was homeschooled, and when he went to the Capitol, “everything he knew was filtered through his parents’ lens.” On Easter, they said they “obviously don’t fully understand what the Confederate flag means” and even Googled “what the rebel flag represents” on the afternoon of January 6, 2021.
Prosecutors said Easter was “part of the crowd that first breached the police line on the east side of the Capitol” and that he was “waving a Confederate flag as he entered the restricted area, walked through the crowd and ascended.” upper landing” outside the east rotunda doors.
“There, he obtained a canister of pepper spray and used it to attack Officer Joshua Pollitt of the United States Capitol Police (“USCP”), who was guarding the East Rotunda Gates, and sprayed the chemical irritant directly into Officer Pollitt’s face at arm’s length. Officer Pollitt, after Easter sprayed him, minutes later, he collapsed and suffered hours of excruciating pain and partial blindness,” prosecutors said. “Following this attack, Easterday obtained a second pepper spray from another rioter and used it to attack a different group of USCP officers guarding the East Rotunda Gate, hitting USCP officer Miguel Acevedo, causing him to experience excruciating pain and partial blindness for an hour, as did Officer Pollitt. .”
Easter later broke into the building and lured other rioters inside, prosecutors said. The next day, Easterday “deleted photos, posts and communications from her Facebook account to hide evidence of her guilt,” they said.
More than 1,387 Capitol attack defendants have been charged, and prosecutors have secured more than 984 convictions. While hundreds of low-level rioters were sentenced to probation on January 6, more than 520 were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days behind bars. 22 years in federal prison. Just about 15 accused persons are in prison until the trialmeaning they have not been convicted of crimes, but judges have determined they are either a danger to society or a flight risk.