Dustin Byron Thompson blamed then-President Donald Trump for leading him to attack the Capitol, where he stole a coat rack, a drink and a pager.
A federal jury found Thompson, 38, guilty in April of one felony count of obstructing an official proceeding and five misdemeanor counts. On Friday, Thompson appeared in federal court in Washington, where U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton sentenced him to three years in prison and three years of probation. Walton also ordered Thompson to pay $2,000 in restitution. Thompson will receive credit for time served in prison. US lawyers had asked for a prison sentence of five years and 10 months. Thompson’s attorney, Andrew M. Stewart, asked for a one-year prison sentence. Many defendants from the Capitol riots have taken plea deals, but Thompson chose to face his charges at trial using a new defense. “I followed presidential orders,” Thompson testified at his trial. Columbus defense attorney Sam Shamansky argued at trial that Thompson and others were brainwashed into believing the 2020 presidential election — which President Joe Biden won by more than seven million votes — had been stolen and they were acting on Trump’s instructions to go to Capitol Hill. and “fight like hell.” Context: Trump’s words inspired Columbus to join mob that breached Capitol, lawyer says Box: Columbus lawyer defending client in Capitol riot case wants to subpoena Trump In a letter to the court asking for leniency, Thompson apologized and blamed misinformation and conspiracy theory for the rabbit hole he fell down during the pandemic. “I love America and I am ashamed of my actions that day,” Thompson said at his sentencing hearing. “There is no excuse for what I did.” In September, Walton sentenced Thompson’s co-defendant, Robert Anthony Lyon, to 40 days in jail. Lyons, 28, of Reynoldsburg, had plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts. Thompson rejected a plea deal from federal prosecutors seeking at least 60 days in jail, according to Stewart, who replaced Shamansky as Thompson’s attorney in May. Before sentencing Thompson, Walton said he shared that intelligent people can be radicalized by lies, but noted that a message must be sent that attacks on democracy will not be tolerated. “If you had your way, you would have torn this country apart and made this country a dictatorship,” Walton said. “You didn’t love America that day.” Federal prosecutors wrote in court documents that Lyons and Thompson entered the senator’s office inside the Capitol, where rioters ransacked the office. The senator and her staff played a key role in congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election, which insurgents sought to disrupt, prosecutors said. Thompson stole a bottle of liquor, a coat hanger and a pager belonging to the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, which he admitted at trial. While inside, Thompson shot a video of himself celebrating the riot, according to prosecutors. Thompson, who posed with the coat rack outside, tried at trial to claim he took the rack to prevent the mob from using it as a weapon against the police. Thompson later admitted the testimony was not true in his letter to the court asking for leniency. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Kennelly Dreher said at the sentencing hearing that Thompson’s claim at trial, under oath, offended U.S. Capitol police officers, more than 100 of whom were injured on Jan. 6. Walton admonished Thompson for lying during sentencing. Dreher also pointed to Thompson wearing a bulletproof vest on Jan. 6 — which Thompson claims he found on the ground that day — as evidence that Thompson was prepared for violence. [email protected] @LairdWrites More: Whitehall man who wore business jacket to Capitol Hill on January 6 jailed for 5 months