The Department of Justice has recommended that the Pennsylvania barber be sentenced on January 6, 2021. The Capitoline Rebellion faces 20 years behind bars.
Ryan Samsel was found guilty in February 2024 on several charges, including assault on federal officials, committing an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds and obstructing official proceedings.
The DOJ recommended a sentence of 240 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $2,000 in restitution and a fine, according to court documents.
DOJ IS CONSIDERING CHARGING ANOTHER 200 PEOPLE 4 YEARS AFTER JANUARY. 6 ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL
The Justice Department has recommended that a Pennsylvania man convicted of multiple charges in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol spend 20 years in prison. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
“A sentence of 240 months in prison reflects the gravity of Samsel’s conduct and provides sufficient deterrence given Samsel’s continued lack of remorse, active and public repetition of false stories, violent criminal history, and interest in attacking the Capitol again,” the DOJ wrote in a memorandum.
Samsel was the first rebel to break through the restricted perimeter of the Capitol with other supporters of the now newly elected president Donald Trump in an effort to delay the confirmation of President Biden’s 2020 election victory, according to the DOJ.
He was found guilty of verbally abusing an officer, violently pushing and pulling metal barricades, and assaulting an officer by picking up a metal barricade and hitting him in the face with it.
Ryan Samsel, who has multiple convictions for his role in the Jan. 6 riots, was the first person to breach the Capitol perimeter that day, the DOJ said. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
Police were subsequently overwhelmed as “the floodgates opened” and “thousands of rioters poured onto the west facade of the US Capitol,” the DOJ said in the document.
“Samsel spent the next hour and a half terrorizing the police on the Western Front,” the document says. “He attacked the police with his flag, grabbed another officer’s shield, tore up scaffolding, flashed officers, grabbed a 2×4 board and threw it at the police line, and threw a pole at another police line.”
DOJ TRYING TO BLOCK JAN. 6 ACCUSED OF ATTENDING TRUMP’S INAUGURATION
Ryan Samsel was found guilty of verbally abusing an official at the Capitol, violently pushing and pulling metal barricades and assaulting an official by picking up a metal barricade and hitting him in the face with it. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
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“Samsel was proud of his actions that day, taking the time to take a selfie video during the riot and announce with a smile that he had breached the Capitol,” the DOJ wrote. “Samsel was still proud of his actions years later when he told an interviewer that his actions on January 6 were justified, because ‘sometimes civil disorder is necessary.'”
