Jan 6: Ex-Cop Sentenced to 87 Months
Facts
- Former Rocky Mount Va. Police Sgt. Thomas Robertson was sentenced to more than seven years imprisonment by federal judge Christopher Cooper on Thurs. for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
- Robertson's sentence comes after his conviction six months ago on all six indictments, including interfering with police and entering a restricted area with a dangerous weapon, a wooden stick.
- Robertson will be credited with the 13 months he's already spent in custody after Judge Cooper determined he had violated his supervised pre-trial release by possessing firearms last year.
- Robertson's 87-month sentence ties with Guy Reffitt's - an associate of the right-wing Three Percenters who allegedly entered the Capitol with a gun. The penalties are the longest sentences for any Capitol rioter.
- Robertson allegedly traveled to Washington on the 6th with fellow Rocky Mount officer Jacob Fracker, who was supposed to be tried alongside Robertson before pleading guilty to conspiracy in March and agreeing to cooperate with federal authorities.
- So far, 850 rioters have been charged in connection to the Jan. 6 riots, 350 have pleaded guilty - mostly to misdemeanor offenses - and over 230 have been sentenced.
Sources: Business Insider, Huffington Post, Reuters, and CBS.
Narratives
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Washington Post. Robertson, who at the time of the Jan. 6 attack held a position of public trust as a police officer, absolutely deserves this sentence. His participation in the attempted coup at the Capitol - for which he demonstrated no remorse - showed a lack of regard for public safety, anti-American sentiment, and threatened democracy.
- Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. It's absurd to call Jan. 6 an "attempted coup" by unarmed citizens who largely committed no acts of violence. The only ones who truly represent anti-American sentiment are those who are targeting patriotic citizens and labeling them as "domestic terrorists".