San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
S.A.-area Capitol rioter gets 7 years in prison
A San Antonio-area man convicted of assaulting a Washington, D.C., police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
Lawyers for Army veteran Steven Cappuccio, of Universal City, tried to sway federal Judge Trevor N. McFadden to sentence him to probation, not prison. They focused on Cappuccio’s military service, which left him with posttraumatic stress disorder.
The federal judge in Washington, D.C., instead sentenced him to 85 months behind bars, followed by two years of federal supervision once he’s released.
Cappuccio, 54, was convicted at a trial last summer with Federico Guillermo Klein, a former State Department appointee of then-President Donald Trump, of assaulting Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, one of several officers injured while trying to protect the Capitol from the mob.
Other rioters also were convicted for the attack on Hodges and already have been sentenced.
Klein received a 70-month prison sentence earlier Friday.
Cappuccio drove from Texas to Washington to attend Trump’s defiant “Stop the Steal” rally. He stopped along the way to buy goggles.
Rioters, fired up by Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen and his calls to “fight like hell,” marched to the Capitol, broke through police lines and occupied the building for several hours, trashing offices and sending lawmakers into hiding.
As the crowd got angrier, Cappuccio crossed the Capitol grounds, moving toward the building. He climbed onto a railing and shouted, “Storming the castle, boys!” and “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!” prosecutors said.
After advancing into a tunnel under the Capitol, Klein, Cappuccio and others trapped Hodges between a doorway and a body shield.
Cappuccio used his cellphone to record the chaotic scene. He put his phone, while still recording, in his mouth and yanked the gas mask off Hodges’ face.
Cappuccio then took the officer’s baton and struck his head with it. During the assault, Cappuccio used an expletive and mocked Hodges. who suffered a head injury and bloody lip.
The officer yelled for help as he was crushed in the doorway, as seen in a social media video that went viral.
Hodges submitted victim impact statements against both Cappuccio and Klein. Hodges mostly blasted Klein, saying that because of him and others, “I lost my career, my health, and my financial stability.”
Hodges said he was surprised to learn months after the riot that Klein was a government appointee who had taken the same oath he had to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution.
“Instead of assisting me to quell the violence, he joined the fray,” Hodges noted, adding that he was assaulted for up to 20 minutes.
“A minute of fighting without backup in the tunnel felt like an eternity; I went from protecting the Capitol building to fighting for my survival while trying to protect those inside regardless of who they were,” Hodges said.
He also criticized Cappuccio for using his military service and PTSD as an excuse.
“I’m curious at what point did his mental health condition allegedly take all agency away from his rational mind: Did it seize him before he drove 1,600 miles from his home in Texas to the Capitol?” Hodges said. “Was he in control when he trespassed onto the Capitol grounds after Trump instructed him to march there? When he moved through the mob, pushing his way to the vanguard of the assault, and fought to break our defenses? When did he regain his senses? Was it before or after he tried to kill me?”