Man involved in Jan. 6 insurrection gets 5 years, longest sentence so far

A man who watched and cheered the Capitol riot, then moved to the front of the mob and hurled a fire extinguisher, a plank and a long pole at officers, was sentenced Friday to more than five years in federal prison, the longest sentence given so far to someone charged in the Jan. 6 attack.

Robert S. Palmer, 54, of Largo, Fla., pleaded guilty in October to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, and his original plea agreement called for a sentencing range of 46 to 57 months. But after his plea, and his entry into the D.C. jail, Palmer arranged to make an online fundraising plea in which he said he did “go on the defense and throw a fire extinguisher at the police” after being shot with rubber bullets and tear gas.

That was a lie, Palmer admitted Friday. He had thrown a fire extinguisher — twice — a large plank and then a 4- to 6-foot pole at police before he was struck with a rubber bullet. The lie indicated a failure to accept responsibility for his actions, prosecutors argued, and when U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan agreed, she increased his sentencing range to 63 to 78 months, ultimately imposing a 63-month term.

“Look behind you,” Chutkan instructed Palmer in the courtroom. “Those are U.S. marshals. They ran from this courthouse. They put themselves in danger to protect the occupants of the Capitol. That’s what they’re sworn to do. They’re the patriots. The people working in the Capitol that night, they are patriots. Doing what they get paid to do, they didn’t know if they were going to come out of there alive that night.”

Palmer said, “I’m really, really ashamed of what I did.”

He said that, while in jail, he saw footage of himself on an MSNBC news program.

“I was horrified, absolutely devastated to see myself on there,” Palmer said.

In a letter to the judge last month, he wrote, “I realize that we, meaning Trump supporters, were lied to by those that at the time had great power, meaning the sitting president as well as those acting on his behalf.”