WASHINGTON: Far-right Oath Keepers militant group member Roberto Minuta was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Thursday after he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes arising from the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by then-president Donald Trump’s supporters.

“You can feel a way about a government and about the way it’s treating its citizens without resorting to violence,” US District Judge Amit Mehta said. “That is why you find yourself where you are today.”

Minuta’s sentencing comes just one week after Mehta sentenced Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to 18 years in prison following his November conviction for seditious conspiracy and other charges.

Rhodes received the longest prison term handed down to any of the 1,000-plus people charged in the attack that was intended to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Republican Trump.

Minuta, who provided a security detail to Trump ally Roger Stone during political rallies on the day of the attack, entered the Capitol with other Oath Keepers and, according to prosecutors, pushed past police officers while screaming obscene language.

Minuta on Thursday said he regretted the violent and profane rhetoric he used on Jan 6, which was captured on video and played for the jury during his trial in moments he said made him cringe.

“As a father, I would be embarrassed for my children to see me behave the way I did on that day,” he said. “I’m sincerely disgusted by my behaviour.” He added that he has since disavowed the Oath Keepers and feels “repulsed” by Rhodes’ lack of remorse for his conduct on Jan 6. Mehta told Minuta he was not convicted based solely on his own words.

“It’s because your words reflected your state of mind. Your words gave us a window into what you were thinking and ultimately why you came to Washington,” Mehta said. The sentence Mehta imposed was far lower than the 17-year prison term the government had requested.

“Mr Minuta is dangerous individual” due to his “warped sense of patriotism,” federal prosecutor Troy Edwards said.

“Mr Minuta to this very day has not shown remorse for what he did. Throughout his pre-trial release he took to Twitter to call Jan. 6 defendants political prisoners,” Edwards said.

Vallejo was not at the Capitol on the day of the attack. Prosecutors said he stayed at a suburban Virginia hotel where the Oath Keepers had staged a “quick reaction force” and stashed firearms to be quickly ferried into Washington if needed.

Matthew Peed, Vallejo’s attorney, sought to shift blame to Trump, who during a speech to supporters repeated his false claims that the election had been stolen from him through voting fraud.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2023