WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump fanatic who sprayed officers on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 3 years in jail after a prolonged listening to Monday.
Edward Rodriguez has been recognized by on-line “sedition hunters” who helped arrest lots of of Capitol rioters. Investigators dubbed him “#SuitMacer” as a result of he was sporting a swimsuit whereas assaulting regulation enforcement with what turned out to be bear spray. He was arrested in 2021 and pleaded responsible in March.
Prosecutors to request Greater than seven years in federal jail for Rodriguez, who was a 28-year-old actual property agent from Brooklyn, New York, when he attacked officers on Jan. 6. The federal government recognized at the very least eight officers — Sergeant OA, Officer MB, Officer ND, Officer PN, Officer BR, Former Officer JR, Sergeant AW, and Officer AZ — who had been injured in Rodriguez’s spraying assault. (The Justice Division typically recognized victims within the January 6 circumstances by their initials.)
Decide Dabney L. Friedrich imposed the sentence, which was lower than half of what prosecutors requested, citing Rodriguez’s psychological well being wants.
“I used to be there, and I simply need to let you know that in America, we combat again!” Rodriguez mentioned in one among his on-camera interviews on January 6.
In response to prosecutors, Rodriguez wrote, “What does bear spray do to folks?” To Google after the incident.
Rodriguez, who wore a swimsuit that seemed to be made from satin to court docket on Monday, was in a “manic state” when he assaulted regulation enforcement officers that day, mentioned his lawyer, Nora Hirozawa, of the New South Wales Federal Solicitor Basic’s Workplace. York.
Decide Friedrich closed the courtroom for a part of the proceedings to debate Rodriguez’s psychological well being and what Hirozoa described as his “diminished capability.” Hirozuwa mentioned earlier than the court docket closed that she didn’t imagine the psychological well being therapy accessible from the Federal Bureau of Prisons was ample.
Officer Marina Bronstein was one among a number of officers sprayed by Rodriguez who appeared in court docket Monday. Bronstein, who was recognized by prosecutors in court docket, wrote in a signed assertion that she “will always remember how we fought to avoid wasting the Capitol and the lives of these elected to serve our nation” and that she nonetheless lives with the scars of that day. .
“I bear in mind the second I went to seize the bike rack and bought sprayed with bear spray whereas Trump supporters had been yelling at me. I continued to get sprayed, yelled at, punched, and shoved, and it went on for a number of minutes,” she wrote. “Once I may now not see, I went to decontaminate. I returned to the road of motorcycle racks and continued spraying whereas combating off a number of Trump supporters.”
Bronstein mentioned she suffered a concussion, a again damage, a deviated septum, a damaged tooth and a number of bruises on Jan. 6. “My eyes saved burning for a couple of week. I went to the docs for my eyes and my again. I preserve going to the chiropractor for my again,” she wrote. “I’ve migraines on a regular basis and so they can final for days or perhaps weeks. I endure from nightmares and PTSD from this traumatic occasion. “The accidents I sustained from this horrific occasion didn’t forestall me from finishing up my duties as an officer.”
Earlier than the courtroom closed, Rodriguez expressed his want to apologize to the officers. Just one officer, Bronstein, was in control of the command. “I am very sorry for what I did,” Rodriguez mentioned to an almost empty courtroom. Bronstein responded that she was affected by nightmares and post-traumatic stress dysfunction due to what occurred to her through the assault.
“I do not neglect,” Bronstein mentioned. “I forgive you, however that does not change what occurred.”
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