Cop fired after U.S. Capitol assault sentenced to seven years in prison

A U.S. jury has sentenced this Friday to seven years in prison a policeman who was fired after the assault on the U.S. Capitol last January 6, 2021 for joining the mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed Congress that day to stop the ratification of the votes that gave the victory to Joe Biden in the presidential election.

Thomas Robertson has been charged with breaking into the Capitol and participating in the assault and has become the second person to be convicted by a jury in connection with the case, according to reports from CNN television network.

The first to be convicted by a jury was Guy Reffitt, who last July received a similar sentence–just over seven years in prison–the highest sentence for the Capitol assault.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper has indicated that Robertson’s actions are “troubling” and asserted that the defendant “views politics as factional warfare.” “He still believes in conspiracy theories. I think you would go again if there was a similar situation,” he said.

Robertson, a former Mount Rocky Police sergeant in Virginia, wrote a text message in March 2021 stating that he could “kill any officer they send” and ruled out becoming a “political prisoner.”

During the trial, prosecutors have detailed Robertson’s “preparations” for the assault and showed a series of writings made by the defendant a month before the incident, in which he spoke of an “armed rebellion.”