Justice Department via AP
- A man who pinned a DC Police officer to a Capitol door on January 6 was sentenced to over 7 years in prison.
- Patrick McCaughey III, a 25-year-old Connecticut man, was convicted of seven felonies and two misdemeanors.
- "Your actions are some of the most egregious crimes that were committed on that dark day," said the judge.
A man who used a stolen riot shield to pin a DC Metropolitan Police officer to a metal doorway during the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role in one of the most violent actions seen at the seat of the United States Congress that day.
US District Judge Trevor N. McFadden on Friday sentenced Patrick McCaughey III to 90 months — or seven years and six months — in prison for nine offenses, according to the Department of Justice.
"Your actions are some of the most egregious crimes that were committed on that dark day," the judge told McCaughey.
"I'm sorry that I conducted myself less like a citizen and more like an animal that day," he said in response, calling his actions "monumentally stupid."
Federal prosecutors had sought a sentence of 15 years and eight months, which would have been the longest sentence given to any Capitol riot defendant.
McCaughey, a 25-year-old resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, was convicted of seven felony charges, including three counts of aiding or abetting or assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, among others, per the department's release.
He was also convicted of two misdemeanors: disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building and committing an act of violence in the Capitol Building or grounds.
After his release, he'll have 36 months of supervised release and will have to pay back $2,000, according to the DOJ.
The 90-month sentence, the second-longest sentence of any individual involved in the Capitol riot, is the same length as the decision handed down to Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Kingsport, Tenn., man who assaulted Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone and dragged him into a crowd of rioters outside the building.
McCaughey had been found guilty by the judge during a bench, or non-jury trial, in September 2022.
The judge during sentencing described McCaughey as a "poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling" about the January 6 riot, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump swarmed the Capitol in an attempt to halt the certification of now-President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Trump at the time railed against the results, alleging electoral fraud despite no verifiable evidence of mass fraud in the hard-fought contest; now as a former president and declared 2024 Republican presidential candidate, he continues to dispute the results and made disputing the veracity of the 2020 race a sort of litmus test among many top candidates who sought his endorsement in the midterms.
While many of the thousands of pro-Trump supporters marched to the Capitol and then proceeded to leave the area, others — including McCaughey — would attempt to force themselves into the building in the violent breach.
The chilling image of Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges remains etched in the minds of many Americans, as he sought to hold back the mob at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol complex as he was experiencing pain from being pinned down with the shield for over two minutes.
Another rioter took off the mask that Hodges was wearing before stealing his baton and hitting him with the object.
Hodges, who testified at the trial and addressed the judge before McCaughey's sentencing, said that he thought about the attack every day.
"I do not foresee that changing anytime soon," he told the judge, calling McCaughey a "foot solider" in the push to overturn the election.
The efforts by Hodges and other DC Metropolitan — as well as Capitol Police — officers to contain the mob on January 6 were highlighted by the prosecution.
"It is not an exaggeration to state the actions of these officers in thwarting the mob at the Lower West Terrace entrance potentially saved the lives of others, including members of Congress," Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall said in a court filing.