District judge sentences first Jan 6 rioter convicted at trial to 87 months in federal prison (which was bottom of calculated guideline range)

As reported in this Politico article, after an extended sentencing hearing, a "Texas militia member on Monday received the longest sentence to date of any participant in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol: seven-and-a-quarter years in prison."  Here are some of the notable details:

Guy Reffitt, 49, was the first Jan. 6 defendant to go before a jury and was convicted in March on five felony charges, including interfering with police during civil disorder, obstructing the tallying of the electoral votes and threatening his children if they reported him to authorities.

However, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich declined the Justice Department’s request to treat Reffitt’s crimes as terrorism, which would have substantially increased the recommended sentence under federal guidelines. 

It was federal prosecutors’ first request to draw tougher punishment for a Jan. 6 defendant by classifying his actions as domestic terrorism, but the judge concluded it was not appropriate to apply the more severe sentencing guidelines permitted under federal law in terrorism-related cases. Friedrich said applying the sentencing enhancement to Reffitt would create an “unwarranted sentencing disparity” with other cases involving similar threats or conduct related to the Capitol riot.

“There are a lot of cases where defendants possessed weapons or committed very violent assaults,” Friedrich noted, highlighting that the most severe sentences handed down in Jan. 6 cases thus far were a little more than five years while prosecutors asked for a 15-year sentence against Reffitt. “The government is asking for a sentence that is three times as long as any other defendant and the defendant did not assault an officer.”...

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said Reffitt’s discussions before and after Jan. 6 make clear he was intent on carrying out his repeated threats to drag Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell from the Capitol building by force. In discussions caught on video, Reffitt was recorded referring to his desire to listen to the lawmaker’s heads bouncing down the Capitol steps. “He was planning to overtake our government. He wasn’t just trying to stop the certification,” Nestler said. “He wasn’t done. Jan. 6 was just a preface. ... Mr Reffitt is in a class all by himself.”

However, Friedrich said prosecutors had urged much shorter sentences in cases involving people who were directly involved in actual violence against police. “You’re making recommendations that are way different than you’re making in this case — way different,” said the judge, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Friedrich also said she worried that Reffitt not be unduly punished for deciding to go to trial, rather than enter into a plea bargain with prosecutors. “His decision to exercise his constitutional right to go to trial should not result in a dramatically different sentence,” she said.

Nestler also noted that Reffitt was convicted of having a handgun on his hip while on the Capitol grounds, which Friedrich conceded was an important distinction from the other cases to reach sentencing thus far. “Huge, huge … and does the firearm deserve three times the sentence if it was not brandished or used in any way?” the judge asked.

Another unusual aspect of Reffitt’s case is that he was convicted of threatening to injure his two children if they discussed his actions on Jan. 6 with authorities. One of those children, Peyton Reffitt, spoke briefly during Monday’s hearing to urge leniency for her father. She suggested that Trump was more responsible for the events that day than her father was. “My father’s name was not on all the flags that were there that day that everyone was carrying that day,” Peyton said. “He was not the leader.”

As noted in a prior post, the presentence report had calculated Reffitt's guidelines range to be 108 to 135 months, but Judge Friedrich did not apply all the suggested guideline enhancement and ultimately  sentence him at the bottom of the guideline range calculated by her to be 87 to 108 months.

A few of many prior related posts:

• Federal judges expressing some concern about lenient plea deals for some Capitol riot defendants
• Recent Jan 6 rioter sentencings showcase different judges with different sentencing perspectives
• Accounting for the first 50 sentences imposed on January 6 rioters 
• January 6 riot prosecutions continuing to spotlight realities of federal criminal justice case processing 
• Fascinating new AP accounting of all sentences given to January 6 rioters so far
• Politico provides new review of "Where Jan. 6 prosecutions stand, 18 months after the attack" 
• With first defendant now convicted after trial, how steep might the "trial penalty" be in the Jan 6 riot cases?
• Feds seeking (above-guideline) sentence of 15 years for first Jan 6 defendant to be sentenced after trial convictions

UPDATE: I found notable this Insider article which is headlined "Trump 'deserves life in prison' says daughter of January 6 rioter who was sentenced to 7 years behind bars." Here are excerpts:

The daughter of a man sentenced to 7 years in prison on Monday for taking part in the January 6 insurrection told reporters that the former president, whose supporters stormed the US Capitol, deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars if her father was going to get his sentence....

After Reffitt was sentenced, his daughters spoke to the media and argued that it was not fair for their father to receive such a long prison term while more powerful people remain free.

"To mark my dad as this horrible person, and then having him prosecuted like this, when somebody is maybe even able to get elected again? Doesn't seem right to me," Sarah Reffitt told reporters.

"Trump deserves life in prison if my father is in prison for this long," Petyon Reffitt added.