A federal judge handed out the longest prison term yet in a guilty-plea case stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, hitting a California man with 12 1/2 years for attacking a Washington police officer with a stun gun, NBC News reports. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson called Daniel Rodriguez "among the most serious offenders" on Jan. 6. "He's not just a follower; he calls for action," Jackson said, referring to Rodriguez's violent rhetoric immediately after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. After he was sentenced, Rodriguez shouted "Trump won" in the courtroom.
During the riot, Rodriguez drove a stun gun into the neck of police officer Michael Fanone, who had been abducted by the mob and who later said he believed he would be killed. Before the riot, Rodriguez had vowed "there will be blood" in a Telegram chat and later bragged on Telegram about his actions. "Tazzed the f--- out of the blue," he wrote. Ahead of his sentencing, Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes in a rambling speech, saying he “truly” thought a civil war was going to begin and that he believed the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers formed because police were standing down across the country. He acknowledged his actions against Fanone but stopped short of an apology. Fanone, who has been an outspoken advocate for the police attacked in the riot, said Rodriguez's "half-hearted attempt to apologize for his conduct" and later outburst showed that stiff sentences were "the best assurance that we have that this won’t happen again." Federal prosecutors wanted Rodriguez to spend 14 years in federal prison — an upward departure from his sentencing guidelines, which suggested a sentence of roughly eight to 10 years — saying he committed an act of terrorism. Lawfare writer Roger Parloff reported that Rodriguez' sentence, in addition to being the longest yet following a guilty plea, is the third-longest Jan. 6 sentence overall and fell well above sentencing guidelines. The sentence included a rare $96,927 restitution order as well.