Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and officials who fled mob attack, told a judge on Wednesday they are still haunted by what they endured as the judge prepares to issue verdicts in a historic uprising in the Capitol case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta heard victim impact statements a day before he is expected to deliver inflammatory conspiracy sentences on January 6 against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and an associate convicted of conspiracy to block the president’s transfer of power

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Trump to President

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Prosecutors are demanding 25 years behind bars for Rhodes, which would be by far the longest sentence handed down among hundreds of Capitol riot cases.

Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens crossed paths with Oath Keepers members in the Senate corridors as rioters burst into the building, shouting insults and throwing projectiles at police. Owens recalled his wife bursting into tears when she saw the blood and bruises on his arms and legs after the riot.

We have experienced physical trauma, emotional trauma and mental trauma, Owens said at the hearing in Washington federal court. The traumas we suffered that day were endless.

Rhodes scribbled notes on a yellow notepad as he listened to the statements.

Prosecutors are seeking 25 years for Oath Keepers founder Rhodes during the January 6 riot

Terri McCullough, the chief of staff to then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, said rioters tried to

San Francisco, California

Democrat as her staffers hid in a conference room for hours, hearing chants and threats.

The defendants have violated our workplace, our government and our democracy, McCullough said, adding that democracy succeeded.

Capitol Police Special Agent David Lazarus, who was assigned to Pelosi’s security detail, said some of his colleagues have quit because of what they experienced.

Lives and careers are ruined and will never return to normal, he said.

Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who encountered Oath Keepers in the Rotunda, said rioters were turning the citadel of American democracy into a crime scene. Dunn said he is a shell of his former self and reluctant to go to work every day.

While still feeling scarred as of Jan. 6, Dunn said he found some relief from the jury’s sentencing of Rhodes and other Oath Keepers, adding that he is deeply grateful that justice has been served in this case.

The judge also heard statements from Virginia Brown, who was a Senate chamber aide and helped carry a box of election ballots across the Rotunda on Jan. 6. As the crowd surged into the Capitol, Brown kicked off her shoes so she could run faster. She remembered fearing for her life and praying that she would not encounter any insurgents.

4 found guilty of conspiracy in Oath Keepers’ latest trial on Jan. 6

I constantly relive the memories of that day, said Brown, who was a sophomore at the time. I can’t measure how many hours of sleep I’ve lost.

Rhodes was convicted in November of seditious conspiracy with Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs after prosecutors spent weeks alleging that Rhodes and his extremist group supporters plotted an armed uprising to force Biden, a Democrat, out of the White House. hold in favor of Trump. a Republican.

Rhodes, who did not enter the Capitol, took the witness stand during the trial and told the jurors that there were never any plans to attack the Capitol and that his followers who did were rogue.

Meggs will also be sentenced on Thursday, followed by two Oath Keepers on Friday who were acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other crimes. Another four Oath Keepers convicted of sedition at a second trial in January will be sentenced next week.

Prosecutors are seeking prison terms ranging from 10 to 21 years for the Oath Keepers alongside Rhodes.

The judge canceled the sentencing scheduled this week for one defendant, Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Va., as he considers whether to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict of obstruction and a document tampering charge.

Prosecutors are urging the courts to impose tougher sentences for terrorism, arguing that the Oath Keepers were trying to influence the government through intimidation or coercion. Judges have so far rejected the request of the Ministry of Justice for the so-called

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it has searched so far in the handful of January 6 cases, but the Oath Keepers case is unlike any other convicted to date.

Former OC police chief, five others indicted on Capitol riot conspiracy

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes as a result of the riots. Just over 500 of them have been convicted, of which more than half have been sentenced

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Terms ranging from one week to more than 14 years.

The sentences for the Oath Keepers could indicate how much time prosecutors will seek for leaders of another far-right group, the Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy in a separate trial this month. Among those defendants is Enrique Tarrio, the former national president of Proud Boys, who may be the most high-profile person to be charged in the extensive Jan. 6 investigation. The Proud Boys will be sentenced in August and September.

Over seven weeks of testimony, jurors heard how Rhodes rallied his followers to fight to defend Trump, discussed the prospect of a bloody civil war and warned that the Oath Keepers may have to riot to defeat Biden if Trump does not act.

On January 6, Rhodes’ followers made their way through the crowd in military-style stacking formations before making their way to the Capitol. The Oath Keepers had stashed guns in a Virginia hotel for rapid response teams that prosecutors said were ready to get guns into the city quickly if needed. The weapons were never deployed.

Rhodes’ lawyers are urging the judge to sentence him to the approximately 16 months behind bars he has already served since his January 2022 arrest. In court documents filed this month,

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Lawyers argued that all of Rhodes’s writings and statements were protected political statements.

None of his protected speeches initiated or encouraged threatening violent or unlawful acts, nor were they likely to occur as a result of his speeches, they wrote.

Richer reports from Boston.