WASHINGTON — A former Virginia police officer stormed the U.S. Capitol for what he believes then-President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election By the decision of the Supreme Court, on Wednesday, he shaved more than a year off his prison sentence judgment on the charge of obstruction used against On January 6, hundreds of suspects.
Thomas Robertson was sentenced by US District Judge Christopher Cooper to another six years or 72 months in federal prison. After the trial, the verdict was read again Supreme Court in June January 6, who challenged the obstruction of justice charge used against him and the rioters, sided with the defendant. The Supreme Court ruling was expected to have a major impact on only a few dozen rioters, whose only serious charge was obstruction. But Robertson was convicted of other criminal charges, including a charge of interfering with officers during a civil disturbance.
It was Robertson originally sentenced in August 2022 to more than seven years in federal prisonOn January 6, he tied the record for the longest sentence given to any defendant. In the two years since Robertson’s conviction, several extremists, including members of the Proud Boys and And Keepers, have been convicted and sentenced to longer federal prison terms: Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison; violent January 6 rioter David Dempsey was penalized up to 20 years; and founder of Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Robertson’s co-defendant and former police officer Jacob Fraker is in court testified said the pair traveled to Washington in hopes of overturning the Jan. 6 election and believed the officers guarding the Capitol “should be on our side.”
Robertson was convicted of felony obstruction in connection with efforts to block the election’s certification, and federal prosecutors moved to overturn his conviction on that very charge after the Supreme Court’s decision at a hearing Wednesday.
However, the rest of its rulings stand. Unlike most other defendants, Robertson was convicted of a separate obstruction charge for destroying evidence after the attack, and Fracker testified that he saw Robertson put his phones in the gun case. Robertson wrote that the pair had “floated in a lake” and “had a tragic boating accident” before surrendering to federal authorities, according to evidence cited by the government.
“They asked about my phone, but I’m not the one behind,” federal prosecutors said after Robertson’s arrest.
In court on Wednesday, a federal prosecutor argued that Robertson’s destruction of evidence hindered the federal investigation and prevented the government from discovering the involvement of a third man – a neighbor Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Ann Aloi referred to as “Pat” in Fracker and Robertson’s scheme. . Fracker disclosed “Pat’s” involvement only after federal prosecutors agreed to testify against Robertson, prosecutors said. “Pat” Robertson has been held at gunpoint since his arrest and has not yet been charged in the Jan. 6 attack, Aloi said.
Trump admitted this week that “lost2020 election and later claimed during the same interview that the election was “rigged”. lost Losing the popular vote and the Electoral College by a significant margin of more than 7 million votes, he secured 232 votes to Joe Biden’s 306.
On January 6, some of the defendants told federal judges they were sorry they were convincing enough Trump has not stopped short of his false claims that the election was stolen from him in order to get caught up in the lies that Trump has been spreading about the 2020 election, prompting them to attack the Capitol.
He is currently facing Trump four federal felony charges It is about efforts to reverse the 2020 election defeat that resulted in a violent siege of the US Capitol and interrupted America’s history of peaceful transfers of power. A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging Trump last month deliberately lied Spreading “unsupported, objectively baseless and ever-changing” claims about the 2020 election. Trump said his lawyers will do it plead not guilty on his behalf during a hearing in that case on Thursday.