WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol and attacked law enforcement officers now says she was “duped” by the former president’s lies about the 2020 election.
Dana Jean Bell was sentenced to 17 months in prison Thursday by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly. Federal prosecutors had sought a 27-month prison sentence, saying Bell “belligerently pushed, grabbed, and verbally assaulted numerous U.S. Capitol Police (“USCP”) and Metropolitan Police Department (“MPD”) officers who were attempting to force rioters out of the United States to purify. Capitol Building.”
Bell pleaded guilty in July to assaulting officers. Her behavior included giving officers the middle finger while frowning and repeatedly yelling “F— YOU” at them,” prosecutors said.
One of the officers who encountered Bell, a 62-year-old Trump supporter, was the late Jeffrey Smith.
“Get a real job, get a real job!” Bell yelled at Smith, captured on video by his body camera. ‘We don’t support you anymore. Now NO ONE supports you! Nobody!”
After his encounter with Bell, Smith was subsequently attacked on at least two separate occasions, including being hit by a flying metal object thrown by another member of the mob on the west side of the U.S. Capitol after nightfall. Smith then reported for treatment, but the facility was so overwhelmed by other officers who had been attacked by other Trump supporters that, his family says, he did not receive proper treatment.
Smith died by suicide nine days later, and a police board and the Justice Department ruled his death was in the line of duty, directly caused by the injuries he suffered at the Capitol. Last month, Washington Nationals baseball honored Jeffrey Smith and dedicated a place to him alongside other officers who died in the line of duty.
Erin Smith, Jeffrey Smith’s widow, was in court Thursday for Bell’s sentencing and provided a victim impact statement. Erin Smith told the court she would not have lost her husband if “this woman and others had not chosen violence that fateful day,” and said Bell chose to “attack and berate the police, who, like my man held very real jobs, jobs that were very successful’. four of them killed and hundreds injured.”
According to her defense team, Bell believed that on January 6 it was “her civic and patriotic duty to answer Trump’s call.” But they say she has now seen the light. In a psychiatric evaluation her attorney filed with the court, a doctor said Bell now realizes she was “duped” by “President Donald Trump’s lies and manipulation” and “has also come to the realization that former President Trump has indeed lost the 2020 elections and that he has used all the resources of his followers, including themselves, for his own gain.”
“Dana regrets ever heeding Trump’s call,” her lawyer wrote.
Bell joined the crowd on Jan. 6 as she entered the Capitol. As she left, she “approached a news crew, joined a crowd that gave the news crew the middle finger, calling them ‘traitors’ and ‘fake news,’ and told them to ‘get away.’ Bell then began trying to push and grab a particular female news anchor, who recorded the event on her cell phone. Bell then raised her hand and attempted to kick another individual when that person tried to intervene.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and new cases continue to emerge.
Earlier Thursday, Peter G. Moloney, a Trump supporter who inherited a string of funeral homes on Long Island, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of assault on an officer and a misdemeanor charge. Moloney admitted to assaulting officers with “Black Flag Wasp, Hornet, & Yellow Jacket Killer” spray and assaulting two people he believed were members of the media. Moloney is expected to be sentenced on February 11, 2025, just weeks after the next presidential inauguration, but that could change under a Trump presidency.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
