WASHINGTON – The federal judge overseeing a presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald TrumpIn the January 6 criminal case, a Capitol rioter who attacked police officers was sentenced Thursday to more than 4.5 years in prison.
Anthony Mastanduno — known to online sleuths as “Shield Grampy” — pleaded guilty to nine felony counts in March, when Trump was originally scheduled to stand trial in his own Capitol attack case, according to a trial schedule set by Judge Tanya Chutkan in August. (Trump’s case was put on hold as the Supreme Court considers his immunity claim.)
Mastanduno’s arrest took place in August 2023, a few weeks after Trump was arrested in the January 6 case against him brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
But Mastanduno’s case has not suffered the same delays as Trump’s case. Chutkan ordered Mastanduno taken into custody after he pleaded guilty in March. By comparison, Trump will appear at a debate with President Joe Biden on Thursday evening.
Federal prosecutors had called for six years behind bars for Mastanduno, saying he “participated in the worst violence inflicted on law enforcement officers in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel during the attack on the United States Capitol.”
An officer who attacked Mastanduno called January 6 “horrible” and “life-changing,” and said the memories made it difficult for him to sleep and trust others. He considers January 6 “forever.” [his] [d]Arkest day,” prosecutors wrote.
A defense memo referenced Mastanduno’s work as a volunteer firefighter and his time in the Marine Corps, and included a lengthy, omitted section about the 61-year-old’s physical and mental health.
In the nearly three and a half years since the attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,400 people and secured convictions against more than 1,000 defendants. More than 540 of those defendants have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison for a Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
