A Kentucky man who stormed the U.S. Capitol carrying a Confederate battle flag was sentenced on Monday to more than two years in prison for pepper spraying two police officers in the face, partially blinding them for hours during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Isreal Easterday was 19 years old when he joined a mob of Donald Trump supporters in invading the Capitol. He used pepper spray to assault two Capitol police officers who were separately guarding the East Rotunda Doors.
Chief Judge James Boasberg cited Easterday’s youth as a reason for handing down a prison term — two years and six months — that was over five times lower than the Justice Department’s initial sentencing recommendation. The judge said Easterday, who was homeschooled by his mother while living on a family farm, “may not have fully appreciated what was going on there” at the Capitol on Jan. 6 or recognized that the Confederate flag is a “symbol of rebellion.”
“January 6th was no less than an intent and an effort to replace by force who our country had voted for,” Boasberg said. “The mob was there because it hadn’t achieved what it wanted to at the ballot box.”
Easterday tearfully apologized to the officers whom he assaulted. He said he accepts responsibility for his actions on Jan. 6 and is “deeply ashamed” of himself.
A jury convicted Easterday last October of nine counts, including charges that he assaulted Capitol police officers Joshua Pollitt and Miguel Acevedo with pepper spray that he acquired from other rioters.
Prosecutors described the Confederate flag as a “symbol of treason, defiance of the law, and insurrection.” Easterday’s attorneys say he has led an “extremely sheltered life” at his Amish family’s farm in rural Kentucky and didn’t fully understand what the flag signifies.
