A New Jersey man who joined a mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to greater than six years in jail for utilizing pepper spray to assault cops, considered one of whom died a day after the siege.
Julian Khater did not point out the dying of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick or deal with the officer’s household in a written assertion he learn aloud earlier than U.S. District Choose Thomas Hogan sentenced him to 6 years and eight months of imprisonment.
Khater wasn’t charged within the officer’s dying. A health worker concluded that Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of pure causes a day after he and different officers tried to carry off the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hogan stated Sicknick’s dying was the “elephant in the room” however careworn that the coroner’s report did not give him any foundation to make use of that as a sentencing issue. Nonetheless, the decide famous that Khater didn’t apologize to the officers whom he attacked or categorical any sorrow for hurting them.
“Somewhere along the line, we’ve lost the sense of acceptance of responsibility,” Hogan stated.
Khater replied that he modified his ready assertion to the courtroom on his lawyer’s recommendation after he was not too long ago named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit over his actions on Jan. 6.
“I wanted to apologize to everybody,” he stated.
The decide gave Khater credit score for the practically two years he has served in pretrial detention. Hogan additionally ordered him to pay a $10,000 wonderful.
Khater’s good friend and co-defendant, George Tanios, pleaded responsible to misdemeanor fees of disorderly and disruptive conduct and spent practically six months in jail earlier than an appeals courtroom ordered his launch. Hogan sentenced Tanios, 41, of Morgantown, West Virginia, on Friday to the jail time he already served.
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Dozens of cops stuffed the courtroom gallery, with many others watching the proceedings on a tv in an overflow courtroom.
Though Tanios and Khater weren’t charged in Sicknick’s dying, the officer’s kin consider they bear duty. Sicknick’s mom, two brothers, a sister-in-law and his longtime girlfriend addressed the decide in courtroom earlier than he imposed the sentences.
“Your selfish actions have caused more pain than you could ever imagine,” stated an older brother, Craig Sicknick. (*6*)
Gladys Sicknick, the officer’s mom, informed Khater he’s “center stage in our recurring nightmare.”
“You attacked my son like he was an animal. You are the animal, Mr. Khater,” she stated.
Federal prosecutors had beneficial a jail sentence of seven years and 6 months for Khater, 34, of Somerset, New Jersey.
The health worker’s workplace in Washington decided in April 2021 that Sicknick died from pure causes after struggling two strokes close to the bottom of his mind stem. The health worker additionally famous that Sicknick had engaged with rioters on Jan. 6 and that “all that transpired performed a task in his situation,” in response to prosecutors.
Protection lawyer Chad Seigel stated the health worker’s post-mortem confirmed that Khater did not straight or not directly trigger the officer’s dying.
“If there was any proof on the contrary, they might have charged him,” Seigel stated.
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Prosecutors stated Sicknick’s “tragic demise, so shut in time to the traumatic occasions of that day, underscores the seriousness of the offense dedicated by Khater and his fellow rioters.”
“Officer Sicknick’s death should serve as a solemn reminder to Khater, and to all of the rioters who committed acts of violence against police officers on that day, that their actions contributed to immense trauma, stress and suffering for all police officers who were physically attacked at the Capitol,” they wrote in a courtroom submitting.
Khater drove from New Jersey to select up Tanios in West Virginia earlier than driving to the Washington space on Jan. 5. They took a rideshare into the nation’s capital on the next morning to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally and listen to then-President Donald Trump deal with supporters.
Becoming a member of the group that marched from the rally to the Capitol, Khater and Tanios approached the Decrease West Terrace. Khater grew to become enraged when he was uncovered to police chemical spray, “as if he was some innocent victim,” a prosecutor, Gilead Gentle, informed the decide.
Surveillance video exhibits Khater reaching inside Tanios’ backpack and retrieving a cannister of pepper spray that Tanios had bought a day earlier. Video captured Tanios saying, “Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet … it’s still early,” as Khater reached into his backpack.
A number of minutes later, Khater approached officers guarding a barricade and sprayed at the very least three of them, together with Sicknick.
“He jumped into action right as the officers were at their most defenseless,” Gentle stated.
Gentle stated the assault was premeditated, however Khater’s attorneys stated he did not plan the assault. Khater informed the FBI that he and Tanios had introduced bear spray and pepper spray to the rally to guard themselves.
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Khater stopped spraying police after an officer sprayed him. Cops retreated from the Decrease West Terrace after Khater’s assault.
Greater than three hours after police cleared the Capitol of rioters, Sicknick started slurring his speech whereas speaking to fellow officers and collapsed. He remained on life assist at a hospital for practically 24 hours earlier than he died.
Khater pleaded responsible in September to 2 counts of assaulting or impeding officers with a harmful weapon. Tanios pleaded responsible in July to 2 misdemeanors. Neither of them was accused of coming into the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors had beneficial sentencing Tanios to the 5 months and 6 days that he already has served in jail.
Tanios operated a sandwich restaurant close to West Virginia College’s campus. It closed throughout his jail stint.
Khater has been jailed since his March 2021 arrest in Newark, New Jersey. He operated a well being meals restaurant that closed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greater than 100 cops have been injured on the Capitol on Jan. 6. Greater than 950 folks have been charged with federal crimes associated to the Jan. 6 riot.
Roughly 500 riot defendants have pleaded responsible, principally to misdemeanor offenses. Over 380 have been sentenced, with greater than half getting phrases of imprisonment starting from seven days to 10 years.