Rioter who menaced officer with Confederate flag gets prison
A Delaware man who threatened a Black police officer with a pole attached to a Confederate battle flag ashe stormed the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Thursday to three years in prison.
Kevin Seefried, 53, tearfully apologized for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot before U.S. District Judge Trevor Mcfadden sentenced him.
“I never wanted to send amessage of hate,” Seefried said.
Mcfadden said it was deeply troubling that Seefried wielded the flagpole as a weapon against the officer.
“Bringing a Confederate flag into one of our nation’s most sacred halls was outrageous,” the judge said.
Mcfadden allowed Seefried to remain free until he must report to prison at a date to be determined.
Justice department prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of five years and 10months for Seefried, a drywall mechanic from Laurel, Delaware.
Seefried and his adult son, Hunter, stormed the Capitol together after attending the “Stop the Steal” rally, where then-president Donald Trump addressed thousands of supporters in Washington. Kevin See-fried was the 12th rioter to set foot inside the building that day, according to prosecutors.
In October, Mcfadden sentenced Hunter Seefried to two years of imprisonment.
Widely published photographs showed Kevin Seefried carrying his Confederate flag inside the Capitol after he and his son, then 22, entered the building through a broken window.
Kevin Seefried told an FBI agent that he did not viewthe Confederate flag as a symbol of racist hate. FBI agents said they did not find any evidence linkinghimor his son to any far-right extremist groups.
Seefried is embarrassed and ashamed that many may viewhim as a racist, his lawyers said in a court filing.
“He had brought the flag as a symbol of protest, but had not considered the logic of those who see the flag as a symbol of American racism,” they wrote. “Now that photos of him with the flag have become iconic symbols of the horror of January 6, Mr. Seefried completely understands the harm he has caused.”
Withinaminute of entering the building, Kevin Seefried jabbed his flagpole at Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman and joined other rioters in chasing the officer up a flight of stairs, a harrowing scene captured on video. Seefried was the first rioter to encounter Goodman near the base of the staircase, prosecutors said.
Goodman, who testified at the Seefrieds’ trial, said Seefried cursed at him and jabbed at himwith the base of his flagpole three or four times without making contact. Goodman recalled that Seefried asked where members of Congress were counting the votes and said, “You can shoot me, man, but we’re coming in.”
“That flagpole was not only a weapon capable of causing serious injury; a Confederate Battle flag was affixed to it and itwas brandished by aman standing at the front of a volatile, growing mob towards a solitary, Black police officer,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Goodman led rioters away from the Senate chamber as senators and then-vice President Mike Pence were being evacuated. He also directed Sen. Mitt Romney, R-utah, to turn around and head away from the mob.
Mcfadden convicted the father and son of riot-related charges in June after hearing two days of trial testimony without a jury. The judge convicted both of obstructing an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.