Prosecutors originally requested a two-month sentence for Reeder but upped their request to a six-month sentence after the evidence was brought to light. However, the date was postponed after investigators discovered videos they say show him shoving a police officer right outside the building. Reeder pleaded guilty in June to picketing inside the Capitol and was originally scheduled for sentencing in August. Reeder's attorney, Robert Bonsib, wrote in a filing that his client planned to visit the monuments in the city until he learned about a group of people traveling to the Capitol building after Trump's speech.īonsib said his client is a Democrat - though "not politically active" - who accidentally ended up on January 6 grouped with "views he abhors." Reeder's Facebook history prior to January 6 paints a different picture about his views: Reeder wrote about "POS liberals," saying "this time the conservatives will stand their ground and the radicals will die." Robert Reeder, 55, told FBI investigators he was an "accidental tourist" at the Capitol on a simple excursion to Washington, DC, to see then-President Donald Trump speak. He was originally to be sentenced in August, but prosecutors found new evidence.Ī Capitol rioter who repeatedly said he was "just there to go to the bathroom" - despite video evidence that appears to show him push a police officer - was sentenced to three months in jail. ![]() Robert Reeder, 55, told FBI investigators he was an "accidental tourist" on January 6. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty ImagesĪ Capitol rioter who said he was "just there to go to the bathroom" was sentenced to 3 months in jail. “I hope it does send a signal to the other participants in that riot… that they can expect to receive jail time,” Hogan said.Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as they push barricades to storm the US Capitol in Washington D.C on January 6, 2021. Hogan didn’t tack any probation time onto the 90 days behind bars. “They are trying to get out of this as quickly and inexpensively as possible, saying whatever they have to say in a guilty plea to get out of it.”īefore the video of the altercation surfaced, which Reeder’s attorney Robert Bonsib argues is a reflexive, defense action, prosecutors aimed for a two-month sentence. “It’s become evident to me in the riot cases, many of the defendants who are pleading guilty are not truly accepting responsibility,” Hogan said. “Your honor, the defendant has repeatedly lied to law enforcement and been less than candid," a Justice Department attorney said to Hogan, showing a slideshow full of evidence that Reeder was neither the Democrat nor accidental tourist that he claimed to be. In initial interviews, Reeder repeatedly blamed the government and law enforcement for the riot, and prosecutors said he only showed remorse after experiencing backlash from his actions. “I find your statements to the FBI to be self-serving and disingenuous, frankly,” Hogan said. While the judge said Reeder’s remorse seems sincere, he concluded that the defendant's interviews with FBI agents did him no credit. Hogan settled on three months instead Friday, highlighting Reeder’s lack of criminal history and saying he had already suffered so much. In the lengthy video, Reeder describes his experience in the Capitol. Capitol in a bid to overthrow the election of President Joe Biden. A criminal complaint against Robert Reeder includes this image of the Maryland man from video taken with his cellphone on Jan. Prosecutors nevertheless decided not to add to Reeder's charges with the new evidence, instead asking for the maximum six-month sentence for the plea deal that Reeder originally accepted - unlawful picketing in a Capitol building. ![]() He pleaded guilty and was set to be sentenced in August, only to see that hearing waylaid at the eleventh hour by a group called Sedition Hunters that found footage of Reeder from the riot attacking police. ![]() “Financially, I’m ruined.”Ī 55-year-old resident of Maryland, Reeder had initially claimed to have stumbled into the Capitol building as an accidental tourist. "I'm poisoned, I’m radioactive,” Reeder said. Reeder also tearfully told Hogan that no one will hire him, and that this will have a large effect on his 14-year-old son, who shares the same name as him. “And I'd like to first sincerely apologize to the court and to everyone for my shameful and inexcusable actions that day. "It's been a really rough ride for me,” Robert Reeder said in court, noting that he’s lost his job, his friends and his church. 6 defendant whose sentencing was delayed by the discovery of video that showed him in an altercation with a police officer failed to avoid prison time at a marathon hearing Friday where he delivered a tearful apology.
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