Kyle Young has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Young a ‘one man wrecking ball’, after hearing details of the events pertaining to the Iowa man’s sustained assault on a Capitol police officer and sentencing him.
“What happened on Jan. 6 and the effort to keep the spirit alive is the utter antithesis of what America stands for,” she said in her ruling. “It is the pure embodiment of tyranny and authoritarianism.”
The sentence by Jackson is the longest that has been handed down so far for more than 919 people, who have been charged with crimes during the jan. 6 event.
“You were not prosecuted for being a Trump supporter. You were not arrested or charged and you will not be sentenced for exercising your first amendment rights,” Judge Jackson told Young. “You are not a political prisoner. You were trying to stop the singular thing that makes America, America, the peaceful transfer of power. That’s what ‘Stop the Steal’ meant.”
The officer who Young assaulted, Michael Fanone, shared his emotional testimony during the hearing. He talked about being dragged, beaten and tased before Young attempted to reach for his gun. The footage was all caught on Fanone’s body camera.
“During those moments, I remember thinking there was a very good chance I would be torn apart or shot to death with my own weapon. I thought of my four daughters, who might lose their dad,” he said.
The assault only stopped, Fanone said, when he told his attackers he was a father. The beating caused him to have a heart attack, and he cites the beating as the reason he has since retired from the force.
Young cried while saying, “I apologize…I’m so sorry. I wish I could take back what I did that day. I hope some day you can forgive me.”
Young also confessed, “I handed a stun gun to another rioter, who then used it on Fanone. I grabbed Fanone’s hand, so he couldn’t use it to protect himself from the attack.”
Judge Jackson took particular issue with the fact that Young went to the Capitol with his teenage son, whom he encouraged to participate by using a strobe light to blind police officers.
Fanone said in court, “Young should get 10 years in prison. What I hope he does with that time is suffer.”
Young initially faced more than a dozen charges, but entered a plea to the single charge of assault of an officer. His attorney argued that he had only held Fanone’s wrist for two or three seconds, and tried to convince the judge that seven years was excessive.
“You are one of the most serious Jan. 6 offenders in my caseload and you were personally involved in and instrumental to one of the most horrific attacks on officers encased in this building,” the judge told Young. “I have seldom in my years on the bench been presented with anything like this.”
Young will serve three years under supervision upon his release, at which point a hearing will be held to determine his restitution upon his completion of 100 hours of community service.
But none of the Black Lives Matters rioters throughout the country were ever charged, Philadelphia DA releases murderer’s and rapist, but this guy is going to jail, we obviously don’t live in a fair country anymore.
You seem to be saying that a protest against the murder of a black person by police is the equivalent of a violent attempt to overthrow the government of your country. I agree that rioters should be held accountable, but you are defending treason. They are not the same.