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(from AP) A Fincastle man has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for taking part in the January 6th riot at the US Capitol more than two years ago. A Virginia man who told his wife — and a federal jury — that he had “fun” at the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for attacking police as he stormed the building. Markus Maly’s prison sentence is significantly lower than the punishment that prosecutors sought for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The Justice Department had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Maly, a flooring installer.
A prosecutor described Maly, 49, as a “lifelong criminal” with 33 prior convictions on his record, including two for battery of a law enforcement officer. But the judge who sentenced Maly noted that most of his crimes date back to his 20s. Maly told U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that he regrets traveling to Washington and following the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters to the Capitol. But he insisted that he merely “occupied space” in the crowd and denied attacking and pepper-spraying police.
Markus Maly has been jailed since a jury convicted him in December of all eight charges against him. On the morning of January 6th, Maly took a bus from his home in Fincastle to Washington to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. He later joined the mob that attacked police on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Maly sprayed a chemical at a Metropolitan Police Department Officer as they retreated into a tunnel and guarded an entrance. Maly passed a spray cannister from one rioter to another, joined a coordinated “heave ho” push against police and left the tunnel with a stolen riot shield.
