Guy Reffitt is seen on U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. (Images via FBI court filing.)
After Guy Reffitt was convicted of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 while carrying a loaded firearm, he was sentenced to just over 7 years in prison. But now the Texas militia member wants to be released pending appeal and argues a controversial ruling involving a former Air Force officer turned rioter supports his claim.
Reffitt filed the six-page motion in the U.S. District Court District of Columbia on March 2, stating the appeal of his 87-month sentence was necessary because the judge had unfairly overruled his objections to certain enhancements at his sentencing hearing in August 2022.
Specifically, he objected to enhancements on the charge that he obstructed and interfered with the “administration of justice” when he breached the Capitol with fellow members of the mob of Donald Trump supporters. Reffitt urged the court to consider the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision that found the “administration of justice” statute did not include the counting of the Electoral College vote.
That appellate ruling in the case of retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Larry Brock was unanimous. Brock, also of Texas, wore tactical combat gear including a helmet and vest on Jan. 6, scooped up a pair of plastic flexi-cuffs while he marauded through the Capitol building, and proceeded to rifle through senators’ paperwork at their desks. All told, Brock spent about 40 minutes in the Capitol as overwhelmed police tried to clear it of rioters. He was sentenced to two years in prison on both felony and misdemeanor charges, the minimum amount of time allowable under federal sentencing guidelines. Prosecutors initially asked the judge to sentence Brock to five years.
As Reffitt noted in his own filing, the appellate court found that in Brock’s case, the lower court had erred and that the “administration of justice” statute, to their reading, only included judicial proceedings — not congressional proceedings such as the certification of the Electoral College’s vote by Congress.
Upholding Brock’s conviction, the court ordered him resentenced. According to The Associated Press, Brock’s lawyers said last week they believe the sentencing enhancements were misapplied by about nine months.
If the court were to consider his case in the same light, Reffitt argues, they might find that his own sentencing could have been decided another way.
Reffitt’s appeal has been stayed by the Court of Appeals as the Supreme Court resolves a similar question in the case of United States v. Fischer. As Law&Crime previously reported, the nation’s high court agreed to hear oral arguments in that case last December. Fischer is a former police officer who was arrested in February 2021 for storming the Capitol. He faced numerous charges including an obstruction charge known as 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2).
Fischer maintains that the “corruptly” requirement in that statue was not met. Fischer argues 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) goes toward the taking of some action with respect to a record or a document. This is because the law was crafted in 2002 in an effort to tamp down on financial crimes, he claims. A Trump-appointed federal judge overseeing Fischer’s case, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, agreed with him and dismissed the count against him. That ruling was eventually overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals 2-1 and Fischer appealed to the Supreme Court.
Men identified as Eric Gavelek Munchel (in black, hopping over rail), and Larry Rendell Brock (in combat helmet).
As it stands, the Justice Department has indicated there are hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants with an administration of justice charge against them.
Depending on Brock and Reffitt’s success, anyone who hasn’t already completed their sentence for Jan. 6 crimes but is presently incarcerated could potentially use the ruling to get out of jail earlier.
Court records indicate Reffitt would like the court to reduce his offense level to a level no greater than 19, or a level that would precipitate a sentence of 30 to 37 months, according to federal guidelines.
Reffitt has already served 38 months of his 87 month sentence. He was the first Jan. 6 rioter to face trial and it was established at trial that he was a member of the antigovernment Three Percenters chapter in Texas. Reffitt’s case was also a memorable one since it was his son, Jackson Reffitt, who had secretly recorded his father detailing his activities at the Capitol before turning them over to the FBI. When prosecutors addressed jurors at his sentencing, they emphasized how Reffitt had rejected repeated police orders to stand down and they were shown extensive evidence of how he used a megaphone to address the mob, urging them to go forward.
“In the defendant’s own words, he lit the match that started the fire,” a prosecutor told jurors, CBS reported in March 2022.
A paperless order on the docket from U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich dated March 3 shows the judge ordered prosecutors to respond to Reffitt’s request no later than March 7.
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