Pa. woman gets 3 years in prison for role in riot
WASHINGTON — A Pennsylvania woman who was accused — but not convicted — of aiding in the theft of a computer from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office suite during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for a half-dozen other crimes after a prosecutor described her as “among the worst” of the rioters that day.
Riley June Williams, 24, who was found guilty of six offenses Nov. 21 in U.S. District Court in Washington, apologized at her sentencing for being “disrespectful, hateful and angry at innocent people” during the Jan. 6 mayhem. Back then, she said, she was “a young and stupid girl” who “was addicted to the internet” and believed lies by President Donald Trump and his supporters about Mr. Trump being denied re-election because of massive fraud.
“There’s no justification or excuse for my behavior,” she told Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Echoing a defense attorney, who said Williams had been “manipulated” by Mr. Trump and others into storming the Capitol, Williams said in court, “I stand before you as a responsible woman who admits she made a mistake.”
Jurors in her trial said they could not unanimously agree on whether Williams was culpable in the theft of a laptop computer from a conference room in Ms. Pelosi’s suite or for obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. Those two charges have since been dismissed at the request of prosecutors, meaning Williams will not face a second trial.
She was convicted of civil disorder, impeding police officers, trespassing on restricted grounds, illegally demonstrating in the Capitol and two counts of disorderly conduct.
“I look forward to putting this behavior behind me and restarting my life,” Williams said Thursday, referring to her actions during the riot, when she joined a mob of Trump supporters in attacking the Capitol while a joint session of Congress was meeting to confirm Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Clad that January day in black tights and a brown jacket and carrying a fuzzy, zebra-striped handbag slung over a shoulder, the slightly built Williams, 22 at the time and from Mechanicsburg, sought out rioters in the building who were equipped with tactical vests, shields, goggles and helmets, and organized them to attack police security lines, prosecutors said.
“Everywhere she went” in the Capitol, she “acted as an accelerant, exacerbating the mayhem,” Michael M. Gordon and Samuel S. Dalke, both assistant U.S. attorneys, said in a sentencing memo filed in court. Addressing the judge Thursday, Mr. Dalke said Williams “organized and led a violent army of rioters ... directing monstrous violence around her.”
“When others turned back, she pushed forward,” the prosecutors wrote. “When officers blocked her path, she recruited other rioters, especially larger men wearing helmets and body armor, gathered them together, and pushed them forward like a human battering ram, using the mob as a weapon to break through police lines.”
Judge Jackson, who called Williams’ conduct “utterly reprehensible,” ridiculed the defense argument that Williams’ young age, small size and casual attire on Jan. 6 made her less culpable than other rioters, especially burly men in military gear.
“You can see her pointing and directing others in videos and photographs ... like a coxswain on a crew team,” said the judge, who recited a long list of notable people in politics, athletics, the legal profession and the arts, all similar to Williams in age and physical stature. “She’s not some little waif blowing in the wind,” Judge Jackson said. “She poured fuel on the fire.”
The three-year sentence will include the four months that Williams has been in jail since the November guilty verdicts.