A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Texas man, who brought a gun to the January 6 Capitol riot, to 7.25 years in prison.
Guy Reffit, a recruiter for the far-right militia group the Texas Three Percenters, received the punishment, the longest sentence for any individual involved in January 6 to date, after the judge denied the Justice Department’s request for a “terrorism enhancement” that would have yielded more prison time.
In March, Reffitt was found guilty of five criminal counts, including obstructing the certification of the 2020 election results for Joe Biden and transporting a firearm to stir civil unrest. He did not inflict physical violence that day and did not gain entrance into the Capitol building.
In November 2021, Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, was sentenced to nearly three-and-a-half years in federal prison after he was convicted of corruptly obstructing an official proceeding.
Reffitt was the first participant in the January 6 unrest who did not enter into a plea bargain after he was charged, opting instead to go directly to trial.
“Mr. Reffitt’s reluctance to admit early that his behavior is illegal is concerning,” District Judge Dabney Friedrich said before issuing the decision. “And I want to be very clear … under no legitimate definition of the term ‘patriot’ (does) Mr. Reffitt’s behavior on and around January 6 fit the term. It is the antithesis of the word.”
On January 6, Reffitt drove to Washington, D.C. with several guns, one of which he took with him to the Capitol steps as the chaos erupted.
Reffitt’s son Jackson turned his father in days before January 6, reaching out to the FBI via a tip line to warn the bureau because he was concerned about what he might do. Jackson testified against his father during the trial, during which he noted that Reffitt had “slowly lost himself over the last five years.” Peyton, Reffitt’s daughter, also took the stand, tearfully telling the judge that he is “not a threat to my family” and suggesting that Trump is largely to blame for the events that unfolded rather than her father, who is “not the leader.”
Friedrich, however, claimed that Reffitt endangered many people and the U.S. system of governance that day. “The officers at the Capitol are the patriots, as well as those who fought and even died to protect our democracy, our rule of law … those in the mob are not. Not only are they not patriots, they’re a direct threat to our democracy and will be punished as such,” she declared.