WASHINGTON (AP) — A New Jersey man who joined a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for using pepper spray to assault police officers, one of whom died a day after the siege.
Julian Khater didn't mention the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick or address the officer's family in a written statement he read aloud before U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced him to six years and eight months of imprisonment.
A medical examiner concluded that Sicknick, 42, suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he and other officers tried to hold off the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Hogan said Sicknick's death was the "elephant in the room" but stressed that the coroner's report didn't give him any basis to use that as a sentencing factor against him. But the judge noted that Khater did not apologize to the officers whom he attacked or express any sorrow for hurting them.
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"Somewhere along the line, we've lost the sense of acceptance of responsibility," Hogan said.
Khater replied that he changed his prepared statement to the court on his lawyer's advice after he was recently named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit over his actions on Jan. 6.
"I wanted to apologize to everybody," he said.
The judge gave Khater credit for the nearly two years he has served in pretrial detention. Hogan also ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine.
Khater's friend and co-defendant, George Tanios, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of disorderly and disruptive conduct. Hogan was also scheduled to sentence Tanios, 41, of Morgantown, West Virginia, on Friday.