Virginia man sentenced to 6 years imprisonment in January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - A Virginia man will spend six years behind bars after he took part in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The sentence was issued Friday after a 12 person jury found Markus Maly of Fincastle guilty on all counts in December.

Maly was found guilty of interfering with police during a civil disorder; two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon; entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon; disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon, all felonies; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and act of physical violence in a Capitol building or grounds.

On Friday, 49-year-old Maly told the judge that he was sorry that he followed the crowd to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, but he said that his only crime was that he occupied space. He maintained that he did not fire pepper spray or assault police. The judge told Maly that the jury found him guilty of assaulting police officers with pepper spray and passing a canister to someone else in the crowd.

Read more about the trial here

During the trial, the Department of Justice showed the jury video images of Maly taking part in the Capitol insurrection. Documents submitted to the federal court said video shows Maly spraying what appears to be pepper spray on a “line of officers” who were attempting to secure the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors said he “assisted co-defendants Jeffrey Scott Brown and Peter Schwartz with spraying law enforcement by taking a can of spray from Schwartz and handing the can to Brown. Later in the afternoon, Maly exited the tunnel area with a riot shield and testified that he intended to take the shield home as a trophy.”

Prosecutors add Maly messaged his girlfriend who was concerned about violence at the Capitol, “I know …I’ve got stories though,” and “I[t] was so fun …” The next day prosecutors said Maly wrote in a social media conversation, “I stood my ground and went back for seconds and thirds even.”

Maly was also sentenced to 3 years of supervised release. The prosecution requested for Maly to pay $2,000 restitution to the Architect of the Capitol. The judge decided not to issue that fine because Maly never entered the Capitol on January 6, 2021 nor caused damage to the building.

Prosecutors said in the 29 months following Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states in connection to the riot, including nearly 350 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

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