Two Capitol rioters broke down crying in court on Friday as the judge delivered a jail sentence for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Both men will now spend 44 months in prison for leading a mob that overwhelmed police at the perimeter of the Capitol that day, local station News 8 WROC reports.
The defendants, Cody Mattice, 29, of Greece, N.Y., and James Mault, 30, of Brockport, N.Y., both wept as they stood before Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell and asked for leniency, apologizing for their actions and saying they hoped to return soon to their families and young children. But Howell noted that prosecutors had already cut them a reasonable deal by dropping charges that could have led to far more prison time, and she imposed the sentences requested by the government.
During sentencing, Judge Howell slammed the defendants, saying: “they were not patriots on Jan. 6, and no one who broke the police lines and stopped the democratic process was a patriot that day.”
The report from the New York Times noted that “text messages obtained by the FBI showed that Mattice and Mault planned for violence on Jan. 6, initially expecting resistance from antifa. They texted family members during the mayhem, and then congratulated each other in the days after the riot, which temporarily halted the certification of the presidential election.”
Judge Howell read from many of the messages, using the same profanity the men had.
“Mattice and Mault were part of the group that assaulted the police line. They stood at or near the front of the group, pushing forward against the officers, who attempted to keep the rioters from advancing,” The Times stated. Both men maced police officers as they forced their way into the Capitol.
Mattice’s attorney said his client is “uneducated and unsophisticated,” adding that he’s often “swept up with what’s on the internet”
Watch the report below from local station News 8 WROC.
