Texas Man Who Tried to Breach Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6 Will get 7 Years

A Texas man who joined different rioters on the U.S. Capitol making an attempt to interrupt into the Speaker’s Lobby, the place a girl who was part of the mob on Jan. 6, 2021, was fatally shot by the police, was sentenced on Tuesday to almost seven years in jail, the Justice Department stated.

The man, Christopher R. Grider, 41, of Eddy, Texas, had additionally tried to close off the electrical energy on the Capitol, urgent buttons on an electrical utility field whereas yelling, “Turn the ability off!” in accordance with prosecutors.

Mr. Grider, who operates a winery in Central Texas, pleaded responsible final yr to coming into a restricted space and unlawfully parading on the Capitol, his lawyer stated. He went to trial on seven different costs, together with civil dysfunction and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., convicted him on all counts.

On Tuesday, Judge Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Mr. Grider to 6 years and 11 months in jail and ordered him to pay $5,055 in restitution and an $812 positive.

In March, Judge Kollar-Kotelly stated in court docket that movies of the episode had clearly demonstrated “how Mr. Grider put himself on the heart of this battle, steps away from a few of the most violent, lawless and reprehensible acts that occurred within the Capitol on that day.”

She then requested: “How shut can an individual be to unquestionably violent and fully unacceptable lynch-mob-like acts of others, and nonetheless declare to be a nondangerous, actually harmless bystander?”

Mr. Grider’s lawyer, Brent Mayr, stated in an interview on Tuesday that his shopper “actually regrets his actions on Jan. 6 and apologizes to his household, his group and, most significantly, his nation.”

But he added that they have been “deeply dissatisfied that his sentence is considerably longer than others who did a lot worse than him.”

“He didn’t assault any officers, a lot much less threaten anybody with any violence earlier than, throughout or after that day,” Mr. Mayr stated. “The disparity on this sentence may be very, very disappointing to us.”

Last month, a person was sentenced to 3 years in jail for assaulting law enforcement officials in the course of the assault on the Capitol. In September 2022, a retired New York City police officer who swung a steel flagpole at a Washington officer in the course of the Jan. 6 assault was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Earlier this month, a Pennsylvania welder who attacked law enforcement officials on the Capitol with a chair after which chemical spray was sentenced to barely greater than 14 years in jail, probably the most extreme penalty handed down thus far in reference to the occasions of Jan. 6.

More than 1,000 folks from almost all 50 states have been arrested in reference to crimes associated to the Capitol riot, in accordance with the Justice Department.

Mr. Grider believed he was simply going to attend President Donald J. Trump’s rally on the Capitol on Jan. 6, have a meal afterward after which get on a airplane again to Texas, Mr. Mayr stated.

Mr. Grider didn’t handle to attend President Trump’s speech, however he had heard that the president wished everybody to go to the Capitol, Mr. Mayr stated. When he noticed the group going that manner, he determined to observe, he added.

Prosecutors stated that Mr. Grider entered the scaffolding on the northwest terrace of the Capitol “with a crowd of rioters who had pushed by means of a police line.”

Once he was contained in the Capitol, Mr. Grider discovered {the electrical} utility field and tried to close off the ability, in accordance with court docket data.

He then joined “one other group of rioters who pushed by means of a police line,” prosecutors stated.

Mr. Grider ultimately made his solution to the Speaker’s Lobby door and watched members of Congress and their staffs evacuate, court docket data state.

“He gave his helmet to a different rioter and pushed on the door,” prosecutors stated. “The rioter proceeded to make use of the helmet to interrupt the home windows within the door.”

When different folks screamed, “gun,” Mr. Grider was seen backing away from the Speaker’s Lobby door.

That was the second that Ashli Babbitt, 35, an Air Force veteran from Southern California, was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer as she clambered by means of a damaged window resulting in the Speaker’s Lobby.

After the taking pictures, Mr. Grider leaned over the railing to get a greater view of Ms. Babbitt, who was bleeding on the ground, prosecutors stated.

Court paperwork stated it appeared that Mr. Grider had held his telephone over the stairway to seize a video or footage of her.

Mr. Mayr stated his shopper, who had been swept up by the mob mentality prevalent that day, admits that he made “a number of poor selections.”

“He was devastated by what had occurred,” Mr. Mayr stated. “He was devastated by what befell.”