US Capitol Rioter Sentenced to 41 Months in Prison for Punching Police Officer

A New Jersey gym owner and former MMA fighter was sentenced on Wednesday to 41 months in prison for punching a police officer during the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.

According to CNN:

Scott Fairlamb pleaded guilty in August to assaulting a police officer and obstructing an official proceeding. He has been in jail since he was arrested in late January and will get credit for the time he has already spent behind bars. Fairlamb was also the first riot defendant to plead guilty to assault.

“It’s such a serious offense … an affront to society and to the law, to have the Capitol overrun and the function of government stopped,” said Judge Royce Lamberth, noting that the assault had struck “in the heart of our democracy.”

…

“I truly regret my actions that day. I have nothing but remorse,” Fairlamb said in court Wednesday with tears in his eyes as he asked the judge for “mercy.”

Fairlamb said he had disappointed his family, including his father, who was a veteran, and noted that since his arrest he has not spoken to his brother who is a Secret Service agent, “out of respect for his position and our government.”

“My life got pulled out from under me, and it’s no one’s fault but myself,” he said.

Fairlamb, 44, was charged with 10 counts, including civil disorder; obstruction of an official proceeding; and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers.

Fairlamb’s sentence is the longest yet for a defendant tied to the Jan. 6 riot, according to CNBC. So far, according to NPR, more than 675 people have been charged in connection with the attack at the Capitol, where supporters of then-President Donald Trump sought to stop Congress from tallying and certifying Joe Biden‘s election as president.