Capitol rioter who hit officer gets 41-month prison term

A New Jersey gym owner who punched a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in prison, a likely benchmark for dozens of other rioters who engaged in violence that day.

Scott Fairlamb, 44, was the first person to be sentenced for assaulting a law enforcement officer during the Capitol riot. His 41-month prison term is the longest among 32 riot-related sentences handed down so far.

Fairlamb’s punishment likely will guide other judges who sentence rioters who clashed with police at the Capitol. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said it was significant that his sentencing of Fairlamb was the first for assaulting an officer, with more guilty pleas likely in the coming months.

Lamberth said Fairlamb’s actions struck at “the heart of our democracy.” He had pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial.

Fairlamb, a boxing coach and former mixed martial arts fighter, apologized and expressed remorse for actions that he described as irresponsible and reckless.

“I take full responsibility for what I did that day,” Fairlamb said. “That’s not who I am. That’s not who I was raised to be.”

Justice Department prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of three years and eight months for Fairlamb, saying he was among the first rioters to breach the Capitol and incited others to be violent.

Fairlamb joined a group of rioters who pushed through a line of police officers and metal barricades on the Capitol’s West Terrace. He recorded a video of himself shouting, “What (do) patriots do? We ... disarm them and then we storm the ... Capitol!”

Fairlamb carried a police baton into the Capitol, then left the building and approached several Metropolitan Police Department officers, screaming as he followed them. Fairlamb shoved one of the officers and punched his face shield.

The officer wasn’t injured but described Jan. 6 as the scariest day of his career, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Goemaat told the judge.

Two days after the riot, Fairlamb said on a video that “they pulled the pin on the grenade, and the blackout is coming. What a time to be a patriot,” according to prosecutors.

Fairlamb pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting the police officer.

Fairlamb’s social media posts indicate that he subscribed to the QAnon conspiracy theory and promoted a bogus claim that former President Donald Trump would become the first president of “the new Republic” on March 4, prosecutors said.

Fairlamb feels that he was “duped by social media,” his lawyer said in a court filing.

Before Fairlamb’s sentencing, the longest sentence for a Capitol rioter was eight months, for a Florida man who breached the Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag.

Meanwhile, Trump’s effort to thwart the probe of the riot had a setback late Tuesday when a federal judge rejected the former president’s request to block the release of documents to a House committee.

In denying a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Congress had a strong public interest in obtaining records that could shed light on a violent insurrection by the former president’s supporters. She added that President Joe Biden had the authority to waive executive privilege over the documents despite Trump’s assertions otherwise.

Barring a court order, the National Archives plans to turn over Trump’s records to the committee by Friday. But Trump’s lawyers swiftly promised an appeal.

JASON ANDREW/THE NEW YORK TIMES A man climbs a wall at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot. To date, 32 riot-related prison sentences have been handed down.