Armed rioter who said he had duty to 'overthrow the government' gets 7 years in prison for Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A former Virginia National Guardsman was sentenced to seven years in prison Wednesday for leading a charge against police on Jan. 6 while carrying a concealed pistol.

Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was convicted by a jury in April on nine counts, including assaulting police, civil disorder and entering and remaining in a restricted grounds with a deadly weapon. Video from the riot shows Alberts – wearing a gas mask and a plate carrier vest – pick up a wooden pallet and charge at police who were attempting to hold a staircase on the northwest side of the Capitol.

Alberts, who was on the Capitol grounds for approximately six hours, was arrested later in the day. It was at that point police discovered he was carrying a concealed pistol loaded with hollow-point rounds.

Prosecutors said Alberts was a leader of the mob – akin to Texas Three Percenter Guy Reffitt, who can be seen just feet away from Alberts on the same steps. Reffit, who was also wearing body armor and carrying a concealed pistol, was convicted by a jury last year on five felony counts and sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

During a victim impact statement, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Stephen Sherman -- one of the officers stationed on the northwest stairs where Alberts squared off with police – described the Maryland man as “among the worst” actors of the day.

“You came to the Capitol that day to start a war and you, in fact, turned that staircase into a warzone,” Sherman said.

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said Alberts had shouted that officers were “domestic terrorists” and “treasonous, community motherf***ers” and told them if they would only step aside he and other patriots would wipe out Congress.

“Alberts complained that the officers were preventing him and other rioters from ‘doing what’s right,’ and that it was his duty ‘to overthrow the government and reinstate a new government for the people,’” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shalin Nohria and Jordan A. Konig wrote in their sentencing memo.

Prosecutors asked for Alberts to be sentenced to 10 years in prison, saying the planning he put into what equipment to bring, the effect he had on other rioters and what they believed was untruthful testimony on the stand at trial warranted a lengthy sentence. Alberts’ attorneys, John Pierce and Roger Roots, asked instead for a significant downward variance to just six months in prison – a sentence in line with what some misdemeanor defendants who pleaded guilty only to unlawfully entering the building have received.

“This man, upon examination, has lived an absolutely stellar life,” Roots said. “He is a pillar of the community.”

Alberts himself spoke briefly during the hearing, apologizing to Sherman but also repeating claims from his sentencing memo that he had only intended to help people.

“All I was trying to do your honor was try to stop people from getting hurt,” Alberts said. “I could have seriously hurt people that day, but I didn’t.”

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ultimately rejected Alberts’ attorneys’ recommendations and also imposed a number of enhancements they argued against, including one for committing perjury. Cooper said Alberts had “spun a story” on the stand that contradicted video evidence and said he’d heard no remorse from him about what he’d done.

“I think you knew exactly what was going to happen,” Cooper said. “You told your fellow rioters you were going to ‘take the Capitol.’ Your words, not mine.”

Cooper rejected claims by Alberts’ attorneys that he was being unjustly prosecuted for exercising his First and Second Amendment rights. Instead, he said, the case was about a man who was trying to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

“In this country you can’t make your voice heard by joining a mob to overrun the Capitol,” Cooper said. “That’s not legitimate democracy. That’s mob rule.”

Cooper ordered Alberts to serve 84 months, or seven years, in prison – a sentence at the midpoint of the 78-97 months he faced under the advisory guidelines. He also ordered him to spend three years on supervised release after his prison term is complete and pay $2,000 in restitution for damage done to the Capitol.

Over prosecutors’ objection, Cooper allowed Alberts to self-report. He agreed to recommend a facility in Maryland near Alberts’ family.