Rioter among first to enter US Capitol sentenced to 4 years in prison

WASHINGTON — A Colorado man linked to the Three Percenters movement was sentenced on Friday to four years in prison for assaulting police and entering the U.S. Capitol among the first group of rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Robert Gieswein, 26, of Divide, Colorado, appeared before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to be sentenced Friday on two counts of assaulting a federal officer. As part of a plea agreement in March, prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, aiding and abetting destruction of federal property and entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.

According to a statement of facts read in court, Gieswein — who prosecutors have linked to the anti-government Three Percenters movement — met up with a group of Proud Boys at the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, 2021, and then marched to the Capitol – where he assaulted police with chemical irritant multiple times before becoming one of the first rioters to enter the building through a broken window. Gieswein was clad in paramilitary gear and carrying a baseball bat at the time.  

Once inside, Gieswein assaulted several more officers, including one who was attempting to arrest another rioter. Police tried to place Gieswein in custody but he managed to escape their grasp.

Photos from inside the Ohio Clock Corridor just outside the Senate Chamber show Gieswein standing next to Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who was convicted of multiple felony charges earlier this year, and just behind Douglas Jensen, an Iowa QAnon believer who was sentenced to five years in prison last year on multiple felony counts.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden to sentence Gieswein to five years in prison — approximately the same sentence McFadden had ordered for another defendant, Robert Morss, of Pennsylvania, who was also convicted of assaulting police. McFadden said he thought the cases were comparable, but that Morss, a former U.S. Army Ranger, had exacerbating factors like wearing heavy body armor that didn't apply to Gieswein.

McFadden instead sentenced Gieswein to 48 months, or four years, in prison. Gieswein will receive credit for the approximately 29 months he's already served in pre-trial detention since his arrest.

Before delivering his sentence, McFadden said he found it "disturbing" that Gieswein had headed straight to the Capitol on Jan. 6 without even attending former President Donald Trump's speech. He said Gieswein's conduct was among the most "violent, egregious and serious" of that day.

"I think in many was your case is an exemplar of the dangers of a mob mentality," McFadden said.

 To date, more than 1,000 people have been sentenced in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Of those, nearly 350 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police, including approximately 109 who are accused of using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury.