Two West Virginia brothers and ardent Trump supporters who brought bats to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, were sentenced by a federal judge in Washington, DC on Thursday.
Eric Cramer, 43, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a restricted area and tried to grab a baton from a police officer, was sentenced to eight months in prison, CNN reports.
His brother, Country Cramer, 38 – who entered the Capitol for two minutes on January 6 – was sentenced to 45 days of home detention after pleading guilty to unlawfully parading or picketing.
According to court documents, the brothers traveled together to DC to support Donald Trump’s attempt t overturn the 2020 election results by blocking the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote in several states.
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While at the Capitol, Eric Cramer – wearing a gas mask throughout the day and carrying with him a baseball bat – grabbed an officer’s baton and attempted to pull it from his hands before another officer came forward and Cramer backed away, the judge said during the hearing.
Eric Cramer posted a photo on Facebook of a police baton which, he wrote, he took “from the cop that hit me with it … so I guess that’s my trophy,” according to court documents.
Judge Randolph Moss told Eric Cramer the Justice Department could have charged him with a felony for interfering with law enforcement officers and that the baseball bat.
Someone carrying a baseball bat, Moss said, was likely “engaging in threatening behavior unless they’re walking up to the plate.”
“It is just more and more disturbing the more I see,” Moss said of the Capitol attack. “It was one of the most regrettable days in our country.”
Before being sentenced, Eric Cramer apologized for his actions and said he understood how the bat could be seen as threatening, adding that he only brought it for protection after seeing how violent some protests had become over the previous year.
