One of the daughters of a Capitol Hill rioter sentenced to more than seven years by a federal judge on Monday has said the sentencing was “unfair” and that it is Donald Trump who “deserves life in prison”.
Guy Reffitt, who brought a gun to the Capitol riot on 6 January last year and threatened Nancy Pelosi, was handed one of the longest sentences that any of the insurrectionists have received so far.
“Trump deserves life in prison if my father is in prison for this long,” one of Mr Reffitt’s daughters, Peyton Reffitt, was quoted as saying outside the courthouse by CBS News.
She reportedly also gave a statement inside the courtroom telling the court that her father wasn’t a “leader” during the Jan 6 riot as prosecutors have charged.
Her stance outside the courthouse was described by CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane as a “distinctive, unique moment”.
“I’ve never heard a defendant or a relative say Donald Trump should be sent to prison or jail. That was a distinctive, unique moment right there from Guy Reffitt’s daughter,” MacFarlane said.
Mr Reffitt — whose full name court documents revealed to be Guy Wesley Reffitt — was convicted in March on five counts.
A jury found him guilty on five felony charges in March, including obstructing Congress’s certification of the 2020 presidential election, carrying a .40-calibre pistol during the riot and two counts of civil disorder.
In the months before and after the 2020 election, Mr Reffitt got involved with the Texas Three Percenters, a loosely organised militia movement and recruited others in the group to accompany him to Washington on January 6 last year.
As part of his sentence, Judge Dabney L Friedrich instructed him not to contact any members of the Three Percenters or other militia groups while on probation.
“Mr Reffitt’s reluctance to admit early that his behaviour is illegal is concerning. And I want to be very clear... under no legitimate definition of the term ‘patriot’ (does) Mr Reffitt’s behaviour on and around January 6 fit the term. It is the antithesis of the word,” Judge Friedrich said.
