WASHINGTON (AP) — A Southern California man who pepper sprayed police during the storming of the US Capitol January 6, 2021, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison, federal authorities said.
Jeffrey Scott Brown, 56, of Santa Ana, has been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison on felony and misdemeanor charges related to the mob attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press statement Friday.
More than 1,000 people were arrested, including more than 320 people charged with assault or obstructing law enforcement, the DOJ said. Trump supporters that day attempted to block Congress from confirming presidential election results for Joe Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, a Republican.
Brown and two co-defendants were found guilty in court in December.
Peter J. Schwartz of Uniontown, Pennsylvania is scheduled to be sentenced in May. It was not clear why Markus Maly, of Fincastle, Virginia, was not sentenced as planned on Friday.
Prosecutors had sought a 70-month prison sentence for Brown, who allegedly dived in front of a makeshift police line and used a stolen can of pepper spray given to him by Schwartz against officers.
Brown’s attorney, Samuel C. Moore, asked for 40 months in prison, according to court documents.
Moore said the behavior involved “less than 10 minutes of Mr. Brown’s life” and the alleged pepper spray “had no contact with any specific victim.” Still, Moore wrote, Brown admits that he should never have been in the Capitol tunnel that day and that he accepts responsibility for it.