California resident Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday to 12 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to felony conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents or proceedings, and inflicting bodily injury on officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Rodriguez, 40, admitted as part of a plea agreement in February that he attacked former Washington, DC, police officer Michael Fanone with an electroshock weapon in the neck causing him to lose consciousness during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, and that he worked to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rodriguez will also have to pay $96,000 to cover medical treatment for Fanone and $2,000 in restitution for the destruction of the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson said to Rodriguez as she sentenced him on Wednesday: “You showed up in D.C. spoiling for a fight,” adding that he “was a one-man army of hate.” Rodriguez’s attorneys, however, said he was “remorseful” for his actions, and he wrote a letter to Fanone, stating: “I am looking at serving a long prison sentence and no letter I write is getting me out of that. I only want to apologize from the heart. I got carried away and have never been through something like that, that made me out of my mind. I wish I was smarter. I should have protected you because I have deep respect for law enforcement, and I have always stood up for police officers. I have not looked at Jan. 6 the same, my actions the same.”
However as Rodriguez exited the courtroom Wednesday, he shouted “Trump won!” — the very sentiment from Trump supporters that ultimately culminated in the Capitol attack.
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