A Florida Trump supporter, who was convicted on a felony charge related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, offered up a litany of wild conspiracy theories at his sentencing hearing only to be smacked down by the presiding judge.
According to BoingBoing, Tristan Chandler Stevens, of Pensacola, Florida, was convicted of felony assault on Capitol police officers during the January 6th riot.
As reported by WUSA9, “Stevens was convicted of beating U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell with a stolen riot shield, along with assisting in the assault of several other officers.”
During his sentencing hearing, the MAGA fanatic offered the judge a laundry list of conspiracies to excuse his violent behavior.
Among other things, Stevens claimed that National Institutes of Health official Dr. Anthony Fauci deployed a “bioweapon” against America; that there was a shadow government installed by China controlling the country; and that January 6 was an “entrapment operation” to trick patriots like himself into committing acts of violence as a plot to cover up widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
But his argument was quickly shot down by D.C. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, who told Stevens that this line of argument was ridiculous and sentenced him to five years.
“It’s ridiculous to suggest there was some kind of entrapment that caused you to do what you did,” McFadden said. “You battled those officers. You chose to do what you did.”
So far, over 1,000 people have been charged, convicted, or accepted plea deals in connection with the Trump-fueled insurrection — the largest criminal prosecution for a single event in the history of the United States.
