Capitol Rioter Guy Reffitt Sentenced To Over 7 Years In Prison
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NEWS REPORT ON THE SENTENCING -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhC7AYB-Dns
Guy Wesley Reffitt is an American citizenconvicted of participating in the 2021 United States Capitol storming. He was the first participant in the riot to be convicted by a jury rather than pleading guilty.
Biography
Reffitt, living in the town of Wylie, Texas, is married to Nicole Reffitt and has three children. A recruiter for the far-right Three Percenters militia, he supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Following Trump's loss in the 2020 Presidential election, Reffitt was one of many Trump supporters who joined the Stop the Steal movement, a movement to overturn the result of the election on the basis of voter fraud. On 24 December 2020, he texted his son Jackson telling him that "We are about to rise up the way the Constitution was written". Jackson was concerned and reported his father's behaviour to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but did not get any response until 6 January 2021.
On that same day, Guy Reffitt and fellow Three Percenters member Rocky Hardie drove up to Washington D.C. to attend a Stop the Steal rally by Trump outside the U.S. Capitol building. Following the rally, Reffitt, wearing tactical armour and wielding a handgun, was one of those who stormed the Capitol building while Congress was preparing to certify Joe Biden's victory in the election. Upon becoming separated from Hardie, who did not attempt to enter the building, he used a radio to contact him and told him he was going to try and enter the building. He had a GoPro camera strapped to his torso recording his participation in the riot and was caught on camera by other rioters.
Following the riot, Reffitt texted his family to tell them "We took the United States Capitol. We are the Republic of the People". On 9 January he texted two other rioters with plans to obtain firearms by establishing a registered security business and use them to carry out attacks on state capitols around the country. Upon returning home he boasted to his family that he had entered the Capitol and told them he "started the fire". He did not realize that Jackson Reffitt was recording him on his mobile phone. Suspecting he planned to turn him in, Reffitt threatened to shoot him. He also reportedly told his daughter Peyton that he would "put a bullet through her" if she reported him. Jackson Reffitt then reported Reffitt's participation in the riot to the FBI, who arrested him on 16 January.
Reffitt, unlike several other Capitol rioters, pleaded not guilty to interfering with Congress, interfering with law enforcement during a riot, transporting a firearm across state lines for purposes of rioting, armed trespassing on Capitol grounds and witness tampering. At trial, testimony was heard from Rocky Hardie and Jackson Reffitt, although Peyton Reffitt declined to testify. His various text messages were produced by the prosecution. Reffitt's defence was that he was a "big talker" and his alleged participation in the riot had been idle bragging. Reffitt was convicted on all charges on 10 March 2022 and faces up to 7 years in prison.