A man who attacked an Associated Press photojournalist and threw a flagpole at police guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday.
Rodney Milstreed, 56, of Finksburg, Maryland, “prepared for battle” on Jan. 6 by injecting steroids and arming himself with a four-foot wooden pole disguised as a flagpole, the indictment alleges.
A prosecutor showed U.S. District Judge James Boasberg videos of Milstred’s attacks outside the Capitol.
Ultimately, Milstreed told the judge it was painful to see his violent actions and hear his combative language that day.
“I know what I did that day was very wrong,” he admitted, but he heard the judge say he believed in his remorse, especially for attacking police officers and a photo reporter.
Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of six years and six months for Milstreed, a machinist who worked at oil and gas facilities.
In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Milstreed said he understands the wrongfulness of his actions on Jan. 6 and has learned from his mistakes.
Milstreed was arrested in May 2022 in Colorado, where he worked, and pleaded guilty at the time to charges of assault and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Milstreed was angry about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which gave Democrat Joe Biden victory against Republican Donald Trump, and used social media to make threats against authorities.
In late December 2020, he emailed a chapter of the far-right group Proud Boys in Maryland to ask how he could join the movement.
On the morning of January 6, 2021, Milstreed took a train to Washington and then attended then-President Donald Trump’s rally at the White House, following the crowd as it marched to the Capitol in an effort to counter the vote count. and thus annul the elections. Trump’s defeat.
Milstreed joined other protesters in attacking an Associated Press photographer, pushing and threatening him before violently attacking him.
Other protesters were accused of attacking the same photographer, and one of them – Alan Byerly, 55, of Pennsylvania – was sentenced last October to two years and 10 months in prison.
More than 1,100 people were charged with federal crimes related to the invasion of the Capitol, with more than 650 convicted. About two-thirds of them received prison sentences ranging from three days to 22 years.
Source: DN
