The 40-year-old gentleman who used a stun gun on Officer Michael Fanone at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced today to 12 years and seven months in prison. "Trump won!" was all he had to say as he was being led out of court.
Daniel Joseph "DJ" Rodriguez, from California, had been part of PATRIOTS45MAGA Gang, a Telegram chat group that "became a forum for Rodriguez's plans for violence against the seat of the federal government," according to court documents via NPR. He and his Telegram cohorts had traveled to the "Stop the Steal" rally, where Donald Trump spoke, before the one-term sore loser encouraged the angry armed crowd to march to the Capitol.
Once Rodriguez reached — and entered — the Capitol building, Court documents describe video footage that shows the MAGA man "at the first set of double doors of the Capitol building facing the police line and deploying a fire extinguisher at the line of officers present." He also threatened the officers with a wooden pole.
"Rodriguez is then seen making his way toward the officer and, with the electroshock weapon in hand, plunging it into the [Officer Fanone's] neck," the Court documents continue. "As the officer attempted to escape, court records state that Rodriguez struck again, placing the electroshock weapon on the back of the officer's neck."
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who sentenced him, referred to Rodriguez as "a one-man army of hate, attacking police and destroying property."
"You showed up in (Washington) D.C. spoiling for a fight," she told him. "You can't blame what you did once you got there on anyone but yourself."
From NPR:
That officer was later identified as Fanone. He served on the Metropolitan Police Department Officer for nearly two decades before resigning nearly a year after the attack at the U.S. Capitol. …
After attacking Fanone, Rodriguez entered the Capitol, vandalizing offices, ransacking rooms, breaking windows and stealing items, prosecutors said. During all of this, he continued to update other members of his Telegram group of his assault on Fanone and the other law enforcement officers on scene that day. …
In the 29 months since the Jan. 6 riot, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol; nearly 350 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation is ongoing.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, convicted of seditious conspiracy and other felonies, was sentenced to 18 years — the longest sentence so far related to Jan. 6 crimes.
