A South Carolina man who is a devotee to QAnon and who assaulted police officer during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was given one of the longest prison sentences handed out to Capitol rioters yet, CBS News reports.
Nicholas Languerand originally faced a 20-year prison sentence but prosecutors asked that it be reduced to 51 months. He will get credit for time served, and he must pay $2,000 to the architect of the Capitol, who estimated that the riot caused about $1.5 million in damage.
“The defendant engaged in, and pleaded guilty to, an extremely dangerous offense,” Judge John Bates said. “It strikes at the very heart of the democratic rule of law.”
From CBS News:
Prosecutors alleged that Langueand had thrown “a variety” of dangerous objects at police, including an orange traffic barrier and stick-like objects he seemed to have obtained from the surrounding crowd attacking the Capitol.
And while he was at the Capitol, Langueran may have been armed, the government also wrote, citing social media activity in which the defendant said he was “carrying” in D.C. and in which he mentioned having a firearm at the Capitol. Notably, the government determined that his claim was unsubstantiated.
While Languerand admitted he had participated in the assault on the Capitol, investigators say he showed little remorse and even indicated that he wanted to see more violence, alleging he had sent a message to an associate that read, “Violence isn’t always the answer but in the face of tyranny violence may be the only answer,” and “Next time we come back with rifles.”
“I got some good shots in,” he also allegedly wrote about his attacks on police.
As CBS News points out, Languerand’s sentence is among the longest handed down a Capitol rioter, with Robert Palmer, another man accused of assaulting police, being given 63 months.
