WASHINGTON (CN) — A man who was recorded using a metal bike rack to trip and injure Capitol Police officers on January 6, 2021, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in federal prison.
Nicknamed "JackTheTripper" by internet users who identified him from footage of the insurrection, Mikhail Slye received a much lighter sentence than the nearly five years that prosecutors had requested.
U.S. Chief District Judge James Boasberg said Slye’s actions were not premeditated and there was no evidence he had any intention to “overthrow the government,” a mindset attributed to members of the Oath Keepers and others convicted of seditious conspiracy. Boasberg also cited Slye’s background as a pig farmer as well as the strong plea for mercy that the man's family members made in the courtroom on Thursday.
An Obama appointee who was raised to the top role by Chief Justice John Roberts earlier this year, Boasberg was careful to stress, however, that the frenzy of the mob did not leave Slye free of blame.
“This will go down in history books as an insurrection,” Boasberg said. “I know that’s not what you intended when you got to Washington, D.C., but you participated in it that day.”
According to a government sentencing memo filed before Thursday’s hearing, Slye also hurled curses and spat at police officers, calling them Nazis, traitors and “fucking bitches.”
The memo further describes how, as officers were trying to assist another colleague caught up in the mob, Slye stood in wait down a set of stairs with the barricade.
“As a Capitol Police officer approached his position, Slye threw the barricade into the officer’s path and caused him to trip over it,” prosecutors wrote in the memo.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Tessman noted there were multiple incidents from Skye's past — such as robbery and a high-speed chase with officers — that spoke to his “utter disdain for police.”
Tessman also doubted the sincerity of Slye’s remorse, pointing out that the defendant had maintained leading up to sentencing that he did not remember using the bike rack.
“How do you forget something like that?” Tessman asked. “It seems that he may not be being forthright with us.”
Photos included in the sentencing memo show Slye wearing a black baseball helmet with a metal face guard as he enters the Capitol through a window.
In the months following the attack on the U.S. Capitol, a website called seditionhunters.org posted surveillance videos and images online to identify the people there that day. The FBI used this website to identify Slye, referred to as “JackTheTripper” online, according to the criminal complaint.
Slye gave a short testimony before the court, apologizing for any injuries he may have caused and said he regretted what he did that day.
“I was disillusioned from the truth,” Slye said. “I feel bad for how it is I represented our country.”
Michael van der Veen, Slye’s defense attorney, argued for a reduced sentence because of his client’s rural Texas background and the lack of any connection to right-wing extremism. He distinguished his client’s case against those of the members of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers, who received sentences upwards of 18 years in prison last month.
“My client came to watch, listen and have his voice heard,” van der Veen said. “He literally gets swept up in the mob.”
Boasberg also heard testimony from Slye’s father-in-law, Ed Alvara, one of the many family members who traveled to Washington for the hearing on Thursday. Alvara described the important role Slye played in their family as a father and his contributions to the pig farm they run, requesting the judge to sentence Slye to home confinement, or at least a reduced sentence.
“In the heat of emotion, when all hell was breaking loose around him, he did something out of character,” Alvara said.
In the 29 months since the Capitol riot, the Justice Department has charged over 1,000 people for their actions on Jan. 6, and sentenced approximately 524 people. The investigation is still ongoing, with approximately 269 people who assaulted police officers still unidentified.
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