WASHINGTON — A federal judge in the Jan. 6 criminal case against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday sentenced a Capitol rioter who attacked police officers to more than 4.5 years in prison.
Anthony Mastanduno — “known as” to online explorersGrampy Shield” — was convicted of nine felonies in March. That was when Trump was originally scheduled to stand trial in his Capitol attack case, according to a court schedule drawn up by Judge Tanya Chutkan in August. (Trump case) adjourned As the Supreme Court hears his immunity claim.)
Mastanduno’s arrest came in August 2023, just weeks after Trump was arrested in the January 6 case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith.
But Mastanduno’s case has not suffered the same delays as Trump’s case. Chutkan ordered Mastanduno’s arrest after he pleaded guilty in March. By comparison, Trump appears in a Thursday night debate with President Joe Biden.
Federal prosecutors had argued Six years behind bars for Mastanduno, who said he “participated in some of the worst violence against law enforcement officers in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel during the attack on the United States Capitol.”
Mastanduno, one of the officers who attacked, called January 6 “terrifying” and “life-changing,” saying the memories made it difficult for him to sleep and to trust others. He called January 6 “forever [his] [d]Arkest day,” the prosecutors wrote.
Defense letter referred to Mastanduno’s work as a volunteer firefighter and his time in the Marine Corps includes a lengthy edited section about the 61-year-old’s physical and mental health.
In the nearly 3.5 years since the Capitol attack, federal prosecutors have indicted more than 1,400 people and convicted more than 1,000 defendants. More than 540 of those defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days to time behind bars. 22 years in federal prison For the leader of the Proud Boys was found guilty of sedition.