WASHINGTON (CN) — A butcher who prosecutors described as “one of the most violent and aggressive” Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 87 months in prison Thursday for assaults on Capitol Police officers that caused one to retire from the force.
Kyle Fitzsimons, a 39-year-old butcher, dressed the part at the insurrection, wearing a white butcher coat emblazoned with his name, black apron and coyote pelts that made him stand out from the other rioters decked in pro-Trump garb.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, distinguished Fitzsimons for his “orgy of assaultive rage” that made him one of the more violent members of the crowd that day.
“I hope you can get your emotions under control, we live in very turbulent times,” Contreras told Fitzsimons after he ordered the seven-year prison sentence.
Fitzsimons displayed little emotion throughout Thursday’s hearing but held back tears as he spoke before hearing his sentence.
He apologized for his actions, specifically to U.S. Capitol Police Officer Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, the officer who retired because of the injury Fitzsimons caused and who was present in the courtroom Thursday.
“I came to D.C. to witness history, have my voice heard and, in the end, undermined the entire process I was there to support,” Fitzsimons said.
According to the Justice Department’s sentencing memo, Fitzsimons was determined to be on the front lines of the mob trying to breach the Capitol, pushing his way through the crowd to a tunnel leading into the west side of the building where he assaulted police officers five times.
Fitzsimons threw his wooden bow at the line of officers guarding a tunnel into the building, striking an officer in the head. He then swiped at an officer’s face to dislodge his gas mask, grabbed Gonell's arm as he was trying to assist another fallen officer and pulled on it so hard that it required surgery after the fact and forced the officer to retire. Finally, he wildly charged the police line twice, “indiscriminately trying to punch any officer he could reach,” according to the memo.
According to prosecutors, Fitzsimons only stopped his assault on officers after he was struck by another rioter swinging a crutch, which hit him in the head and left him bloodied.
Justice Department attorney Mike Gordon described Fitzsimons as a “one-man wrecking ball” whose actions were among the worst from Jan. 6 and warranted a 15-year sentence, similar in length to those of Oath Keepers like Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, who were sentenced to 18 and 12 years, respectively.
Hours before Fitzsimons' sentencing, however, the Justice Department filed an appeal of those sentences, arguing they were well below the recommended range for their seditious conspiracy convictions.
“Jan. 6 was one of the darkest days in American history, and this defendant was at the center of it,” Gordon said.
Jonathan McDonald, a public defender who entered the case late after three previous defense attorneys stopped representing Fitzsimons, described his client as "delusional" and heavily influenced by online conspiracy theories and former President Donald Trump.
He argued his client was not the violent criminal the prosecution characterized him as, pointing to a limited criminal history — two instances related to driving under the influence — and no evidence of violence in the past. He asked Contreras not to count his client's single worst day against him.
Contreras agreed somewhat, deciding on a sentence half of what the government sought. He found there was very little planning on Fitzsimons’ part to commit violence that day, nowhere near comparable to the plans for a “bloody revolution” that Rhodes and his fellow Oath Keepers were anticipating.
In addition, the defendant’s actions were effectively a “single burst of frenzied fury,” that lasted about four minutes, not a concerted, repeated attack on officers that earned longer sentences for other Jan. 6 defendants, Contreras said.
Gonell spoke in court Thursday, describing the pain and terror the defendant and other members of the mob caused him that day.
“Kyle Fitzsimons is the reason I have this retirement badge, I did not want this, I wanted to earn it,” Gonell said. “I was seven years from retirement, and he robbed me of that.”
He went on to recount his experience that day as he and his fellow officers held back the “relentless wave of hateful attacks” and how, when he went to assist the fallen officer, he was yanked by Fitzsimons toward the crowd. Gonell worried that he was about to be dragged into the mob and considered using his gun to free himself but stopped for fear of escalating the violence.
“He should feel fortunate that I did not shoot him when I had the chance,” Gonell said.
In the 30 months since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Justice Department has charged over 1,000 for their actions during the riot and approximately 561 people have been sentenced. The investigation remains ongoing, with approximately 323 people who committed violent acts still unidentified.
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