Washington (AP) A man who stormed the U.S. Capitol and then proceeded to engage in a pattern of disruptive courtroom behavior, including berating and insulting the judge, was given a one-year reduction in his prison term by a federal judge on Friday.
Despite complaining about the conditions in his incarceration, Marc Bru chose not to continue insulting Chief Judge James Boasberg, who resentfully sentenced him to five years in prison. One of the winners of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that restricted the government’s application of a federal obstruction law is Bru.
Along with other members of the extreme group Proud Boys, Bru, 44, participated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He seized a barricade and pushed it in the direction of the policemen. Later, he joined other rioters inside the Capitol and made a hand motion that is synonymous with the Proud Boys as he approached the Senate gallery.
The judge stated that although Bru wasn’t among the most aggressive rioters at the Capitol, his actions following the riot on January 6, 2021, were the worst he had ever seen.
Boasberg stated, “I have been a judge for 22 years, and I have never witnessed a defendant say the things he did at sentencing.”
Bru frequently interrupted Boasberg during his original sentencing hearing in January, calling him a fake and a clown who presided over a kangaroo court. He described a prosecutor as vile and disgusting.
Bru, who has a lawyer on standby to represent him, stated, “Give me a hundred years, and I’d do it all over again.”
Before Boasberg pronounced his punishment on Friday, Bru first bowed to his attorney and refused to speak in front of the court. However, when the judge asked him if he had any objections to his revised sentence—a standard inquiry at the conclusion of sentencings—he raised his voice.
After spending fifteen months behind bars in various institutions, Bru stated his experience there has opened his eyes to the realities and situations that exist there.
“It is not that much of a deterrent to put me in that system longer,” he remarked. It isn’t helpful.
A mob of Donald Trump supporters attacked on January 6 and more than 1,500 people have been charged with charges related to the incident. President-elect Trump has referred to rioters as hostages and patriots and promised to pardon them.
When requesting that judges halt their cases, some protesters have invoked Trump’s campaign rhetoric. The prospect of pardons was not brought up during Bru’s resentencing.
Last year, Boasberg heard trial testimony without a jury and found Bru guilty on seven offenses, including two felonies.
Following the Supreme Court’s June decision to remove convictions on a felony obstruction charge, Bru is one of a small number of Jan. 6 defendants who received resentences. A distinction that only pertains to a small number of criminal cases on January 6th, the top court decided 6-3 that evidence of a defendant’s attempt to alter or destroy documents must be included in a charge of impeding an official action.
Bru’s suggested jail term was lowered from 70 to 87 months to 18 to 24 months when his obstruction conviction was vacated.
Madison Mumma, the prosecutor for the Justice Department, maintained that Bru should still receive a six-year term for his actions during and after the disturbance.
Mumma remarked, “I don’t think anything has changed.”
Prosecutors said that Bru, a native of Washington state, plotted an armed uprising to seize power in Portland, Oregon, a few weeks after the Capitol incident on January 6.
Following his pretrial release, Bru faced other charges in Montana and Idaho relating to drunk driving. Prosecutors claim he skipped two court sessions, fled before his trial, and boldly boasted on Twitter that the government would have to come get him if it wanted him.
At his bench trial, Bru represented himself but did not provide a defense. Prosecutors noted that instead, he continually declared that he would not agree to the trial and that he only displayed disdain for the government and the court.
Prosecutors claim that two days prior to his sentencing hearing in January, Bru declared his intention to order the U.S. Marshals Service to detain Boasberg and a prosecutor for human trafficking.
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