North Texan Who Stormed Capitol With a Gun Apologizes Before Being Sentenced to Prison

Before he was sentenced to federal prison Monday afternoon, the North Texas man who was convicted earlier this year of entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot while carrying a holstered handgun and wearing a helmet, body armor and zip-tie handcuffs apologized and said he regretted everything.

Guy Reffitt, of Wylie, was convicted in March of several charges including storming the U.S. Capitol with a holstered handgun, obstructing Congress' joint session to certify the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021, interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol, and of threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after the attack.

Reffitt was the first person to go on trial for the Jan. 6 attack, in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump attempted to prevent a joint session of Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Dabney Freidrich sentenced Reffitt to 7.25 years behind bars, three years probation and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution. Reffitt is also required to undergo mandatory mental health treatment. While prosecutors were hoping for at least twice that, with enhancements that would add even more time, the sentence is the longest one handed down yet in relation to the riot at the Capitol.

GUY REFFITT ISSUES STATEMENT BEFORE SENTENCING

Reffitt initially had no plans to speak at his hearing but after an afternoon recess he decided to make a statement. He stepped up to the podium at about 2 p.m. CT and admitted his anxiety over speaking was "crushing" him but that he wanted to apologize and take responsibility because he hated what he did.

"I don't want anything to do with any groups or militias or any stupid sh*t like that," Reffitt said. “I do deeply regret everything.”

Friedrich, who seemed skeptical, questioned Reffitt as to whether he was just apologizing to get a lesser sentence or if he really felt remorse for his actions on Jan. 6.

"I can't help but wonder, whether like many other Jan. 6 defendants, [if] I'm hearing what I'd like to hear from you as opposed to what you really believe,” she said.

Friedrich asked Reffitt if he agreed he violated the law with respect to the charges against him and he replied, "I clearly f**ked up."

Reffitt told the judge that things he'd written in jail, where he took pride in his role in the riot or where he'd expressed ongoing anti-government sentiment, were part of an effort to raise money for his family and that they'd be on the street if he hadn't said something to fundraise.

LACK OF REMORSE QUESTIONED AHEAD OF SENTENCING

According to a criminal complaint, Guy Reffitt was a member of a militia group, the Texas Three Percenters, and told his family he went to the Capitol to “protect the country.”

Prosecutors said he told fellow Texas Three Percenters that he planned to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol building by her ankles, “with her head hitting every step on the way down,” according to a court filing.

Freidrich on Monday said that under sentencing guidelines Reffitt should be facing 87-108 months in prison, though the DOJ was asking for a sentence nearly twice as long.

The Justice Department hoped Reffitt would receive at least 15 years behind bars for his role in the riot. On top of that, because they said he was "planning to overtake our government," prosecutors wanted to add a "terrorism enhancement" that could have nearly tripled his time behind bars.

Freidrich denied the sentencing enhancement for domestic terror and for possession of a gun during the crime on Monday saying there were previous cases where defendants committed very violent assaults and possessed weapons and they were not given that enhancement. Freidrich agreed with the government that Reffitt should receive a sentencing enhancement for extensive scope, planning, or preparation but that he should not be treated too harshly for pleading not guilty and exercising his constitutional right to a trial.

“He did drive halfway across the country with another person,” Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said of Reffitt’s planning for Jan. 6. "The defendant intended to go to the Capitol from the time he was in Texas."

Freidrich said she would consider each enhancement sought by prosecutors critically and declined to grant a request to add an "aggravating role" enhancement based on Reffitt's leadership during the riot.

"To make him out to be the leader who, but for him, individuals were not going to go to the Capitol, or for that matter, storm the Capitol, I think is a stretch,” she said.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Shauni Kerkhoff delivered a victim impact statement where she asked for Reffitt to receive the maximum sentence.

"His actions weren't acts of patriotism, they were acts of domestic terrorism,” she said, requesting that Reffitt receive the maximum possible sentence because of his lack of remorse, pride in his actions and the turmoil he’s caused."

Before going into recess Monday afternoon, Freidrich commented about Reffitt's lack of remorse and said she was concerned about what he might do once he's out of prison.

“The fact remains, as he sits here now, he has yet to state that what he did was wrong, he is yet to accept full responsibility for his actions, he has not walked back his comments about being a martyr, he hasn't walked back his comments about being a patriot,” she said. "This notion, the repeated diatribes from jail, suggest that his and others' efforts to foment rebellion in our country, to respond to the so-called tyranny of our government, are legitimate.”

After returning from the recess, Friedrich was told Reffitt wanted to make a statement on his behalf.

GUY REFFITT'S FAMILY ATTENDS SENTENCING

Reffitt's wife Nicole and two daughters were seen entering the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. Monday morning. In March, Nicole Reffitt said her husband was being used as an example by the government but on Monday only told reporters outside the courthouse that she was excited to see her husband's face.

When asked if her son Jackson was present she said she hadn't spoken to him today.

Jackson testified in March that his father threatened him and his sister after he drove home from Washington and said they would be traitors if they reported him to authorities. Jackson testified his father told them "traitors get shot" and he used a cellphone app to secretly record his father boasting about his role in the riot.

Jackson said he was terrified by the threat, but his mother and sister said the comments were taken out of context.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower read a brief letter from Jackson on Monday who asked that mental treatment be a part of his father's sentence.

"My father has lost himself to countless things,” he wrote. "The prison system should be used not to destroy a person, but to rehabilitate one.”

Reffitt's daughter Peyton gave an emotional testimony where she said her father isn't a threat and that his mental health is the "real issue." As she choked up, her father could be seen to her left, visibly crying.

"As I know my father, he is not a threat,” Peyton said. "My father's name wasn't on all the flags that were there that day, that everyone was carrying. It was another man's name."

On Christmas Eve 2020, less than two weeks before the riot, Jackson initially contacted the FBI to report concerns about his father's behavior and increasingly worrisome rhetoric. But the FBI didn't respond until Jan. 6, after the riot erupted.

More than 840 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot. Over 340 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. More than 220 have been sentenced, with nearly half of them receiving terms of imprisonment. Approximately 150 others have trial dates stretching into 2023.

Reffitt is one of seven Capitol riot defendants to get a jury trial so far. Jurors have unanimously convicted all seven of them on all counts in their respective indictments.