Federal attorneys are seeking a nearly three-year prison sentence for an Idaho woman arrested in connection with the January 6 U.S. Capitol riots.
In March, a jury convicted Yvonne St Cyr, 56, of Boise, of two counts of obstructing and disrupting law enforcement during a civil disturbance.
St. Cyr was also found guilty of four felony counts: entering and remaining in a restricted building or area; disorderly and disruptive behavior in a building or site to which no access has been granted; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building; and parade, demonstrate, or protest the Capitol.
District of Columbia prosecutor Matthew Graves recommended that St. Cyr be sentenced to 33 months in prison, court documents filed Saturday show. He also said that after her release, she must be supervised for three years, fined $2,000 and face a mandatory $270 assessment.
Graves noted that after the trial, St Cyr continued to publicly call the United States justice system “corrupt” and stated that she “had every right to be there” when she spoke of the riot at the Capitol.
“Her words show a lack of remorse, disrespect for the law and disregard for legal process,” Graves said in the sentencing memorandum.
He also pointed out that she has a history of criminal activity. St Cyr was arrested for trespassing in December 2020 after she refused to leave Boise’s Central District Health building during a rally. She was also dishonorably discharged from the US Marine Corps for a drug offense.
“It is clear that St. Cyr is going through life as she wishes, with contempt for law and authority,” said Graves. “A 33-month prison sentence is warranted to deter her future crimes.”
A gang of rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, attacking law enforcement officials as Congress confirmed the results of the 2020 presidential election, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. At least seven people died in connection with the uprising, including officers who committed suicide, according to a bipartisan Senate report.
St Cyr traveled to Washington DC in the days leading up to January 6 to attend former President Donald Trump’s rally. After leaving the rally, she joined a mob of rioters occupying the west plaza of the Capitol, according to a Justice Department press release. St Cyr was part of the group of rioters who broke through a police line, and she was one of the first to enter the Lower West Plaza tunnel.
St Cyr was seen on video footage of her screaming, “We need new people” and “push, push, push” as other rioters tried to get past the police officers, according to the prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum to the judge. Evidence showed that she crawled through a broken window into the Senate office area, where she said she was looking for a place to charge her phone.
Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested and charged with crimes related to the U.S. Capitol riot, including six Idaho residents. Among them are:
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Josiah Colt, a Boise man who pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of obstruction of official proceedings in July. Colt was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was photographed sitting in then-Vice President Mike Pence’s seat during the riot.
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Pamela Hemphill, a Boise woman in the Capitol during the riot. She was sentenced to two months in prison and three years of probation on one felony charge of protesting at the Capitol.
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Duke Wilson, of Nampa. He was jailed for more than four years after admitting to beating at least one police officer with a pipe, helping other rioters try to pull a police shield away from a police officer and pushing an officer to the ground.
St Cyr’s sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday, September 13 at 8:30 a.m. in court in Washington DC with District Judge John D. Bates.
