WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A Virginia man who told his wife \u2014 and a federal jury \u2014 that he had \u201cfun\u201d at the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for attacking police as he stormed the building.
Markus Maly\u2019s prison sentence is significantly lower than the punishment that prosecutors sought for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The Justice Department had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Maly, a flooring installer.
A prosecutor described Maly, 49, as a \u201clifelong criminal\u201d with 33 prior convictions on his record, including two for battery of a law enforcement officer. But the judge who sentenced Maly noted that most of his crimes date back to his 20s.
Maly told U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that he regrets traveling to Washington and following the mob of then-President Donald Trump\u2019s supporters to the Capitol. But he insisted that he merely \u201coccupied space\u201d in the crowd and denied attacking and pepper-spraying police.
\u201cI went to a rally. That\u2019s what I did,\u201d he told the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge said jurors had ample evidence to convict Maly of assaulting police.
\u201cIt\u2019s not that you were there and \u2018occupying space.\u2019 It\u2019s that you did these things and kept doing them that day,\u201d the judge told him.
Prosecutors say Maly is one of many Capitol rioters who have tried to profit from their notoriety, portraying themselves as patriots, martyrs or political prisoners as they solicit donations from supporters. While prosecutors acknowledge that defendants have a right to raise money for legal defenses, they\u2019re increasingly asking judges to impose fines on top of prison terms to claw back donations used for personal expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maly has raised more than $16,500 through a GiveSendGo donation page, referring to himself as a \u201cJanuary 6 P.O.W.\u201d Prosecutors asked the judge to fine him an amount commensurate with his fundraising haul, noting that he had a public defender and didn\u2019t owe any legal fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge declined to impose a fine. He said Maly\u2019s fundraising activities may have been \u201cunseemly,\u201d but he questioned whether there was a legal basis for clawing back the money.
Maly testified at his trial that participating in the Capitol riot was \u201cfun\u201d for him. He also described the events of Jan. 6 as \u201cfun\u201d and \u201cawesome\u201d in messages sent to his wife and others.
\u201cMaly admitted to being proud of what he had done at the Capitol and that he had bragged about it,\u201d prosecutor Stephen Rancourt wrote in a court filing. \u201cDespite seeing police officers assaulted, injured, and distressed on January 6, and knowing that it was a bad day for members of Congress and the police officers who had to live through the riot, Maly reiterated that his experience that day was \u2018fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The judge at Maly\u2019s trial previously handed down the longest sentence for a Capitol riot case: 18 years for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of orchestrating a violent plot to keep Trump, a Republican, in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Maly has been jailed since a jury convicted him in December of all eight charges against him, including felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police using a dangerous weapon.
On the morning of Jan. 6, Maly took a bus from his home in Fincastle, Virginia, to Washington to attend Trump\u2019s \u201cStop the Steal\u201d rally. He later joined the mob that attacked police on the Capitol\u2019s Lower West Terrace, one of the most violent clashes of the day.
Maly sprayed a chemical, possibly pepper spray, at Metropolitan Police Department Officer Christopher Boyle as he and other officers retreated into a tunnel and guarded an entrance. Maly passed a spray cannister from one rioter to another, joined a coordinated \u201cheave ho\u201d push against police and left the tunnel with a stolen riot shield as a \u201ctrophy,\u201d Rancourt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maly was charged and tried with co-defendants Peter Schwartz and Jeffrey Scott Brown. Schwartz passed the spray canister to Maly, who passed it to Brown. The jurors who convicted Maly also found Schwartz and Brown guilty of related charges.
The judge sentenced Schwartz last month to 14 years and two months in prison, the longest for a Jan. 6 case before Rhodes, and sentenced Brown in April to four years and six months in prison.
Prosecutors say Maly lied on the witness stand when he testified that he only showed a cannister to Boyle but didn\u2019t spray the officer.
\u201cMaly claimed that the stream of liquid coming out of the canister was actually a piece of fringe on his hat. However, his hat didn\u2019t have a fringe,\u201d Rancourt wrote.
Defense attorney Benjamin Schiffelbein said Maly believed that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.
\u201cHe fervently believed that he was protesting in the name of liberty and freedom. His motives, however (factually) wrong they may have been, were based in values this country celebrates,\u201d Schiffelbein wrote. \u201cWhat is more American than fervently defending democracy \u2014 even from one\u2019s own government \u2014 and perhaps especially then?\u201d
More than 100 police officers were injured during the riot. More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to Jan. 6. Over 500 of them have been sentenced, with more than half getting terms of imprisonment, according to an Associated Press review of court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n