Judge: Let riot sentence be a message

A federal judge said Friday he hopes a three-month sentence behind bars in a U.S. Capitol insurrection case will send a message to other defendants who don’t seem to be “truly accepting responsibility.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan spoke as he sentenced Robert Reeder, a Maryland man who had originally described himself as an “accidental tourist” before video emerged of him grabbing a police officer.

“It’s become evident to me that many of the defendants pleading guilty do not truly accept responsibility. They seem, to me, to be trying to get this out of the way as quickly as possible, stating whatever they have to say … but not changing their attitude,” Hogan said.

He said he believed Reeder is sorry now and sentenced him to half of the six months prosecutors had wanted, but the judge said some of Reeder’s previous statements had been “disingenuous and self-serving.”

Reeder had been expected to get probation last month, after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor and saying he had not been involved in any violence that day. Then armchair detectives who call themselves Sedition Hunters unearthed the video online. Prosecutors said the recording captured an assault on an officer, though they opted not to file new charges.

Reeder said he touched or grabbed the officer’s shoulder and forgot to mention it in previous FBI interviews where he voluntarily shared video with agents.

In other developments:

■ Federal prosecutors are recommending that a New Hampshire man who was arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol be sentenced to a month of home confinement and 60 hours of community service. Thomas Gallagher, 62, of Bridgewater, pleaded guilty in July to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a U.S. Capitol building.

■ Two more Springfield, Missouri, women have been charged with participating in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January. The Springfield News-leader reports that the federal case again Cara Hentschel and Mahailya Pryer was unsealed this week.

■ A Nebraska man accused of participating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol has pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct in the case. In exchange for Brandon Straka’s plea, a felony count of impeding a law enforcement officer during civil disorder was dropped.