Capitol rioter James Phillip Mault is facing more than eight years in prison after admitting on Friday to attacking Capitol police officers with chemical spray on January 6 while storming the building in order to stop congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory that day.
According to The Charlotte Observer, the 30-year-old Trump supporter from Fayetteville, pleaded guilty during Friday’s court proceedings. He had been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Citing court documents, the outlet reported that “Mault got a small canister of chemical spray from another member of the crowd and sprayed it at officers defending the tunnel. He got a second canister from the crowd and gave it to another rioter, records shows. Earlier that afternoon, Mault was part of the crowd that overwhelmed a police line, ‘forcing officers to retreat up a central staircase to the Lower West Terrace’ at the Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Mault was arrested on Oct. 7 at Fort Bragg, where he had enlisted in the U.S. Army after the attack. He was swiftly ejected from the Army and now faces up to eight years in prison.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for July 15 according to the report.
Read it in The Charlotte Observer.
