A Tennessee man who grabbed a police officer and pulled him into a crowd of rioters during the United States Capitol uprising in January 2021 was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison.
Posted at 1:35 p.m.
The individual, Albuquerque Cosper Head, refused to address the court before Judge Amy Berman Jackson sent him behind bars for seven years and six months. He will then be subject to a three-year supervised release.
Judge Jackson said Head, who has a lengthy criminal record and about 45 arrests to his name, was guilty of “some of the darkest acts committed during our nation’s darkest days.”
The sentence imposed on Head is six months shorter than the maximum sentence allowed in his case. It is also the second longest sentence imposed so far on a Capitol rioter.
According to federal prosecutors, Head was guilty of some of the most barbaric violence during the insurgency, repeatedly attacking police officers defending access to the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace.
Policeman Michael Fanone was on the front line when Head grabbed him and shouted to the other rioters, “I got one! “. Head wrapped his arms around Mr Fanone’s neck and pulled him into the crowd outside the tunnel, prosecutors said.
“He was your prey. He was your trophy,” Judge Jackson told the 43-year-old.
Head pinned down Mr. Fanone while other rioters beat him. They shocked him with a stun gun to the base of the skull during the assault, which was caught on the officer’s body camera.
At Thursday’s hearing, Fanone said he suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury during the assault, which ultimately cost him his career.
Other rioters have been accused of assaulting Mr. Fanone, including an Iowa man, Kyle Young, who pinned down Mr. Fanone while others shouted “Kill him!” and “Take his gun!” “. Judge Jackson sentenced him to seven years and two months in prison last month.
Two other men, including the one who allegedly used the stun gun, are due to stand trial next year.
About 900 people are charged with federal crimes in connection with the January 6, 2021 riot. More than 430 of them have pleaded guilty. More than 300 received their sentence, in about half of the cases imprisonment ranging from seven days to ten years in prison.
More than a hundred police officers were injured during the Capitol riot.