Ex-Marine who made Nazi salute at Capitol riot sentenced to 5 years in prison

WASHINGTON (CN) — A Capitol rioter who performed a Nazi salute while attempting to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Friday.

Tyler Dykes, 26, an ex-Marine who previously participated in the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 carrying a lit tiki torch, performed the Sieg Heil salute and marched with others to express his white supremacist views, according to the Justice Department. 

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, a Barack Obama appointee, ordered Dykes to 57 months in prison and pay $22,000 in fines and restitution. 

“We fought a world war to beat back the Nazis,” Howell said as she passed down the sentence. “The defendant thinks there’s something attractive about Nazi ideology.” 

According to the Justice Department’s sentencing memorandum, in the months following the 2020 election, Dykes participated in Telegram group chats where users promoted violence on Jan. 6 and called for a violent government overthrow. In one chat, users quoted Adolf Hitler and wrote messages like “Hail holy terror. Hail chaos.”

On Jan. 6, Dykes helped lead the charge on the Eastern front of the Capitol, where he rallied rioters to push against U.S. Capitol Police officers at the East Rotunda doors, ripping a riot shield out of the hands two officers, opening them up to pepper spray from rioters. 

Dykes then used the shield to push his way into the building, overwhelming officers and allowing the rest of the mob to flow inside.

Dykes later made his way toward the Senate Chamber, where he used the riot shield to breach a line of Metropolitan Police Officers attempting to keep the rioters out. After the officers initially pushed the mob back, Dykes then turned around and exited the building, surrendering the riot shield to another officer before finally leaving the Capitol grounds. 

Dykes and his attorneys, William Nettles and Edmund Neyle, both federal public defenders, highlighted his youth during the events of Jan. 6 — he was 22 at the time — and urged Howell to impose a lighter two-year sentence.

“Tyler is a young man who made incredibly poor decisions on Jan. 6, 2021,” his attorneys argued in their sentencing memorandum. “Tyler knows he must be punished, but a sentence within the advisory range of 51 to 63 months’ imprisonment is unduly severe. His youth, bond compliance and specific conduct on Jan. 6 all justify a lighter sentence. 

Howell was unconvinced, noting on Friday that Dykes was prepared for violence that day, wearing a gaiter to mask his identity, and acted more like a leader rather than a follower. Further, Dykes had a history of extremist, violent behavior, pointing to his actions in Charlottesville where he seemed to make the same Nazi salute he had on Jan. 6.

Dykes was arrested for his actions in Charlottesville in March 2023 and convicted for burning an object with intent to intimidate, a felony in Virginia. Photos from that day show him assaulting an individual, but he was not charged for the assaults. 

He was sentenced to five years in prison before being transferred to federal custody to face his 10 charges related to his conduct on Jan. 6.  Dykes pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon at the Capitol riot.

Dykes was then discharged from the Marine Corps under other than honorable conditions in May 2023 following his arrest, for “participating in extremist behavior.”  

During his allocution on Friday, Dykes said he had forsaken his extremist ideas and asked for Howell’s mercy according to reporting by Politico.

“I became a part of the mob,” Dykes said. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I just wanted to be there. I will never do anything like Jan. 6 ever again.’”

Before he finished, he reiterated his support for former President and GOP nominee Donald Trump.

“I stand with President Trump and support him to be the next president of our country,” Dykes said. 

Follow @Ryan_Knappy

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