Richard Barnett, photographed in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office where he lounged with his foot on a desk.
May 24 UPI An Arkansas man photographed in Nancy Pelosi’s office where he lounged with his foot on a desk during the U.S. The punishment for the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021 is four and a half years in jail.
Richard Bigo Barnett, who was found guilty earlier this year on eight counts for his role in the attack appeared Wednesday afternoon before Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. An appearance in District Court for the District of Columbia one day after the judge denied his pleas for an exoneration or a new trial made by Barnett.
Cooper handed down a sentence of 54 months, despite requests by federal prosecutors for a seven year prison term after Barnett admitted he entered the Capitol carrying a 950,000 volt stun gun and an American flag.
During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Barnett expressed regret saying he was not proud of his conduct but also argued that it was not threatening.
Barnett said he wasn’t treated fairly and plans to appeal his convictions. They want me to feel guilty he said for things I didn’t do.
On the eve of Barnett’s sentencing, Judge Cooper issued a 33 page order.
Rejecting each challenge, the Court will deny the motions and sustain the convictions, Cooper wrote in the order released Tuesday.
Barnett, a 63 year old retired firefighter, was convicted in January of civil disorder for blocking a Metropolitan Police Department officer in the Capitol Rotunda. Officer Terrence Craig’s body camera revealed footage of Barnett yelling profanities and demanding Craig retrieve his flag, which Barnett said he left in Pelosi’s office.
Besides propping a foot on a desk in the former House speaker’s office, Barnett faced enhanced charges for carrying a stun gun into the Capitol.
He unlawfully carried a dangerous stun gun into the Capitol and interfered with law enforcement’s ability to control the riot by threatening an officer and refusing orders to leave the building, Cooper wrote in Tuesday’s order.
Barnett, who was accused of stealing an envelope from Pelosi’s office and left a letter for the former speaker that said, Hey Nancy, Bigo was here, you biotch, was also convicted of three additional felony charges and four misdemeanors which included disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon theft of government property and obstruction of an official proceeding.
Barnett’s attorneys argued in their motions for acquittal or new trial that the testimony of key government witnesses should have been set aside because they testified to material facts that are verifiably and objectively false.
Among other claims, Barnett asserts that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of any count, the jury instructions contained a number of prejudicial errors, the government committed a Brady violation, the government’s demonstration at trial of the electric stun device that Barnett brought to the Capitol was improper, a portion of the government’s closing argument was unsupported by evidence, and every key government witness committed perjury, the judge wrote in Tuesday’s order, denying Barnett’s motion before sentencing.
