{"id":1121161,"date":"2023-01-27T16:10:17","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/man-sentenced-to-over-6-years-in-the-jan-6-assault-on-capitol-officer-sicknick\/1121161\/"},"modified":"2023-01-27T16:10:17","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T21:10:17","slug":"man-sentenced-to-over-6-years-in-the-jan-6-assault-on-capitol-officer-sicknick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/man-sentenced-to-over-6-years-in-the-jan-6-assault-on-capitol-officer-sicknick\/1121161\/","title":{"rendered":"Man sentenced to over 6 years in the Jan. 6 assault on Capitol Officer Sicknick"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 One of the men charged with assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick<\/a> on Jan. 6 was sentenced to over 6 years in prison on Friday.<\/p>\n

Julian Khater<\/a>, who admitted to spraying Sicknick and another officer with a chemical irritant, was sentenced to 80 months in prison with credit for 22 months of time served. His co-defendant, George Tanios, who bought the spray and handed it to Khater, was also sentenced, to time served.<\/p>\n

Sicknick died a day after being assaulted, but prosecutors declined to charge the two men with his death.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Before handing down his sentence, Judge Thomas Hogan told Khater, \u201cPeople can conclude in their own minds that the spray may have caused [Sicknick\u2019s death] but medically they haven\u2019t shown it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned about what you did do, regardless of if you\u2019re responsible directly for the death of Officer Sicknick,\u201d Hogan said. \u201cI don\u2019t find any excuse for anyone attacking an officer, particularly in this situation, doing their duty facing overwhelming odds.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The government had argued for a 90-month sentence for Khater, accusing him of a \u201ccowardly\u201d and \u201cpre-meditated\u201d assault on police.<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gilead Light argued before Hogan that violence had already broken out at the Capitol by the time Khater arrived. \u201cJulian Khater did not arrive at a protest in front of the Capitol,\u201d she said. \u201cHe arrived at a riot, he arrived at a war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khater told the judge, \u201cWhat happened on January 6, there\u2019s no words for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s extremely unfortunate and I wish I could take it all back,\u201d Khater said. \u201cWhat transpired that day is not in my nature, it\u2019s not who I am and is most certainly a one-time thing that will never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khater had pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting officers and faced 78-97 months in prison under the sentencing guidelines. He admitted to spraying two officers in the face with the chemical irritant: Sicknick and Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards<\/a>, who testified before the Jan. 6 committee in its first public hearing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tanios pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts \u2014 entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly conduct in a restricted building \u2014 and faced up to 6 months behind bars under the sentencing guidelines.<\/p>\n

As part of his sentencing, Tanios will be on probation for one year and will be required to participate in 100 hours of community service. He also will have to pay an unspecified fine \u2014 the remaining amount in the GoFundMe account he used to raise money for his legal defense. He declined to address the judge before sentencing on the advice of his lawyer.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sicknick died of natural causes a day after the Jan. 6 attack<\/a>, having suffered two strokes, but the medical examiner said that what transpired during the attack played a role in his death. Capitol Police said after the medical examiner\u2019s finding that Sicknick \u201cdied in the Line of Duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement after Friday’s sentencing, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said, “Officer Brian Sicknick died an American hero and he will forever be remembered as one.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We are grateful for everyone who helped put his attackers behind bars,” Manger said.<\/p>\n

Members of Sicknick’s family were present in the courtroom Friday, including his mother, Gladys; brothers, Kenneth and Craig; sister-in-law, Nicholle; and his longtime partner, Sandra Garza.<\/p>\n

Garza filed a wrongful death lawsuit<\/a> against Tanios, Khater and former President Donald Trump earlier this month. The suit accuses Trump of inciting the mob to violence on Jan. 6 and seeks $10 million each from Trump, Khater and Tanios.<\/p>\n

Sicknick\u2019s family read their written victim impact statements in court, describing their grief and venting their anger at Tanios, Khater and the other rioters who attacked officers at the U.S. Capitol. Garza called on the judge to give both men the maximum sentence allowed, saying, \u201cI have seen zero remorse from either defendant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gladys Sicknick noted in her statement that the men had referred to themselves as \u201cfootsoldiers\u201d in Trump\u2019s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, saying that her son, an Air National Guard veteran, had actually served as a soldier.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoldiers don\u2019t erect gallows and call for the Vice President to be hanged,\u201d she said. \u201cSoldiers don\u2019t attack the seat of their own government brandishing pipes and clubs and bats. They don\u2019t plant pipe bombs. They don\u2019t drag a police officer into their midst, beat him senseless and tase him repeatedly while he begs for his life. And they don\u2019t beat and blind policemen with chemicals, like you did to Brian. You attacked my son like he was an animal. You are the animal, Mr. Khater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sicknick\u2019s family also discussed the charges the two men faced, noting in their statements that neither was charged with murder. \u201cOur laws are far more lenient than your actions were towards Brian,\u201d said Craig Sicknick.<\/p>\n

His brother, Kenneth echoed that sentiment in his own statement: \u201cThey may both be pleading for a lesser charge than homicide, but there is little doubt in my mind that their actions led to my brother\u2019s death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards gave the final victim statement, saying she\u2019s felt survivor\u2019s guilt after Sicknick\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the absolute worst kind of officer,\u201d she said. \u201cSomeone who didn\u2019t help their friend, couldn\u2019t help their friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I close my eyes I can still see his face, white as a sheet,\u201d she said, adding that she would give anything to take the pain away from Sicknick\u2019s family and their fellow officers.<\/p>\n

The hearing room was packed on Friday with members of the U.S. Capitol Police, as well as media. Among the crowd were U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who have been outspoken advocates for fellow officers who fought off the mob on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n

From:AOL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 One of the men charged with assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on Jan. 6 was sentenced to over 6 years in prison…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1121161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1121161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1121161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1121161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}