DOJ wants 4 years in prison for pastor who acted as 'ground commander' on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors say an Ohio pastor who acted as “ground commander” on the east side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 should serve four years in prison.

William Dunfee, 59, of Coshocton, Ohio, was convicted after a stipulated bench trial in January of one felony count of civil disorder and one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted area. A second felony count, obstruction of an official proceeding, was dismissed in August following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling narrowing the statute earlier this year.

Dunfee is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries Warsaw in Ohio and partner in a construction company named Cross Builders. He was identified in part thank to the company-branded jacket he wore on Jan. 6.

Prosecutors said unlike many other rioters who eventually wound up at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Dunfee didn’t attend the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he went straight to the east side of the building, where he used a bullhorn to whip the crowd into a “frenzy.” Dunfee led other protesters in “Fight for Trump” chants and periodically turned his attention to police, who he demanded allow the crowd past barricades and to the steps of the Capitol.

“Mister police officers, we want you to understand something,” Dunfee told police. “We want you to understand something. We want Donald Trump and if Donald Trump is not coming, we are taking our house! We are taking our house! … Give us Trump or give us our house!”

Dunfee also directed other rioters to move around to the west side of the building to reinforce the more pitched combat with police happening there and attempted to recruit others on the east side to assist in charging through police barricades. In a sentencing memo filed Monday evening, prosecutors said multiple rioters remembered Dunfee’s role on the east side. Two of them, John Douglas Wright and Clay Norris, both of Canton, Ohio, recalled how Dunfee led them and four other men in a plan to knock down police barricades.

“Dunfee asked the six men to help him breach the barricades, instructed them to spread out across the barricade line to overwhelm outnumbered police officers,” prosecutors wrote. “Dunfee advised Wright that he would use a prayer to signal the men to begin their attack… Wright and Norris were directly beside Dunfee as they breached the barricades together at 1:45 p.m. This was the first breach of the barricades on the East Front.”

Prosecutors said Dunfee also sent an associate on his behalf to approach members of the Proud Boys in an unsuccessful effort to recruit them to breach the barricades. According to the Justice Departments’ sentencing memo, Dunfee and the unidentified man were associated through “Pass the Salt Ministries,” a group founded by former high school football coach, Republican congressional candidate and long-time right-wing activist Dave Daubenmire that encourages Christians to “step into the cultural war.” Daubenmire, who also founded a related group called the “Salt and Light Brigade,” has not been charged in connection with the riot.

Dunfee ultimately helped other rioters push on metal bike rack barricades during the first breach on the east side of the building at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, and again at 2 p.m. As he did, prosecutors said, Dunfee told police, “We are going to the steps… You can fight us.”

After assisting breaching the barricades, Dunfee eventually made it to the Rotunda Doors, where he stopped after being pepper sprayed. Prosecutors said as other rioters came out of the building and informed him the certification had been stopped, Dunfee responded, “Hallelujah! Mission accomplished!”

Prosecutors argue Dunfee deserves four years in prison, citing his leadership role, “abuse of his position of trust as a pastor” and his intent to use threats of violence to interfere with the certification of the 2020 election. That would be nearly the same sentence Wright, who says Dunfee recruited him to knock down barricades, was given in March 2023.

Dunfee’s attorneys are seeking a much lower sentence: a year of home incarceration to be followed by five years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service. In their memo, attorneys Thomas Kidd and Curt Hartman said Dunfee, now nearly 60, has significant health issues and has had to have a pacemaker installed since his participation in the riot.

“That sentence along with continued supervision would satisfy the goals of sentencing,” Kidd and Hartman wrote. “Mr. Dunfee will not make the mistakes he made post-election 2020 in the future.”

Dunfee was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning by U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton.

In the 44 months since the Capitol riot, more than 1,500 people have now been charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. More than 900 have now been sentenced in connection to Jan. 6.