Former Natick official gets 15 days for Jan. 6 role

A former Natick Town Meeting member has been sentenced to 15 days behind bars for entering the US Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to court records.

Suzanne Ianni, 60, received her sentence Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., where she pleaded guilty in September to disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

“Suzanne Ianni is a strongwilled person,” her lawyer, C. Henry Fasoldt, said by e-mail Monday. “She will serve her short sentence, then move on with her life.”

At about 2:40 p.m. on the day of the attack, Ianni was “on restricted grounds, outside of the Capitol near the fire door exit to the Senate Parliamentarian’s office,” prosecutors said in a legal filing. “While there, [Ianni] was with a large group of people chanting and yelling, ‘Fight for Trump’ and ‘our house.’”

At the time, people near Ianni were forcing their way into the Capitol by smashing windows, opening doors, and breaching barricades, prosecutors said. Ianni entered the Capitol around 2:45 p.m. and exited around 3:04 p.m, they said.

She “admits that she willfully and knowingly entered the US Capitol Building knowing that that she did not have permission to do so,” prosecutors said.

“The defendant further admits that while inside the Capitol, she willfully and knowingly uttered loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engaged in disorderly or disruptive conduct with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress,” prosecutors said.

The attack erupted after Donald Trump, in the waning days of his presidency, gave a fiery speech urging his supporters to “fight like hell” and march on the Capitol.

The rioters were seeking to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory by Congress; lawmakers were hurriedly whisked away to an undisclosed location during the tumult and returned later that night to certify Biden’s win.

Before pleading guilty, Ianni had been charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, records show.

Two of the three charges were dropped pursuant to a plea deal.

Five people died in the attack or in its immediate aftermath, and scores more were injured, including at least 140 members of law enforcement who were harassed, beaten, and sprayed with gas substances.

A Jan. 6 congressional committee has held several public hearings and is expected to release a final report on its findings soon. Many of its hearings have focused on the role that Trump and his high-profile backers played in sowing distrust in the 2020 election, leading to the deadly mayhem at the Capitol.

GUILTY PLEA

Suzanne Ianni admitted to illegally entering the US Capitol and engaging in disorderly conduct.