WASHINGTON (CN) — Capitol rioter Scott Kevin Fairlamb pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer Friday, the first person to admit guilt out of over 100 rioters accused of attacking law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Fairlamb, 44, accepted a plea deal from prosecutors to be sentenced to 41 to 51 months in prison, for two counts that carry a maximum of 28 years in prison: assaulting law enforcement and obstructing an official proceeding. He also agreed to pay $2,000 in restitution and go through an FBI interview.
He had previously been indicted on 12 counts.
Although Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth isn’t bound by the agreement, the deal could set a benchmark for how future Capitol riot defendants with assault charges are treated, as over 140 who allegedly assaulted law enforcement have yet to be sentenced.
Fairlamb, a New Jersey gym owner and mixed martial artist, was caught on video yelling aggressively at law enforcement, at one point shouting, “Are you an American? Act like it!” The video also shows Fairlamb, wearing a camouflage jacket and beanie, shove a random police officer and punch him in the face.
Visibly shocked, other rioters tried to calm him down.
Fairlamb has two prior assault convictions — both times punching his victim in the face.
“The defendant’s history of punching people in the face suggests that he may punch people in the face again,” Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said in his April opinion ordering that Fairlamb be detained in jail until his trial.
In another video submitted to the FBI by an informant, Fairlamb, carrying a baton, says, “What patriots do? We fuckin’ disarm them and then we storm fuckin’ the Capitol.” Fairlamb posted the video on his Facebook, according to an affidavit submitted by an FBI special agent.
After the FBI interviewed him, Fairlamb expressed no remorse.
“I’d go again,” he said on social media.
More than 550 people have been charged in connection with the riot carried out by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, who were trying to block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory in last year's presidential election.
So far, 32 of the defendants have pleaded guilty and only six have been sentenced — but received little to no prison time.
The only defendant thus far to be sentenced for a felony received eight months in prison, less than half of the 18 month prison term sought by the Justice Department. Paul Hodgkins, a 38-year-old man from Florida, pleaded guilty last month to obstructing congressional proceedings.
The other five have been sentenced for misdemeanors. One received probation with no prison time, and a married couple was ordered to a brief stint of home confinement. Two more received no additional jail time, as they were kept in custody until their sentencing.
If Lamberth accepts the government’s suggested sentence, it would be the longest sentence a Capitol rioter has received thus far — though far shorter than it could be — paving the way for hundreds more who are awaiting court dates.
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