Florida man who attacked officers with flagpole at Capitol riot gets 4 years in prison

Florida man who attacked officers with flagpole at Capitol riot gets 4 years in prison
(*4*)WASHINGTON — A Florida man who used a flagpole to assault officers who have been looking to protect the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was once sentenced Thursday to 4 years in prison.

Michael Steven Perkins, 40, of Plant City, was once sentenced in District of Columbia federal court docket, in step with court docket data. His co-defendant, Joshua Christopher Doolin, 25, of Lakeland, gained 365 days and 6 months on Wednesday.

Both have been convicted previous this 12 months of prison civil dysfunction, getting into and ultimate in a limited construction or grounds and disorderly and disruptive habits in a limited construction or grounds.

Doolin was once additionally convicted of robbery of presidency belongings. Perkins was once one by one convicted of assaulting a federal officer with a perilous or unhealthy weapon and attractive in acts of bodily violence whilst at the limited Capitol grounds.

Doolin and Perkins have been arrested on June 30, 2021, alongside with co-defendants Joseph Hutchinson and Olivia Pollock, officers mentioned. A federal pass judgement on issued bench warrants for Hutchinson and Pollock in March after the FBI reported that that they had tampered with or got rid of their ankle screens and disappeared.

A 5th co-defendant, Jonathan Pollock, has now not but been apprehended, and the FBI is providing a praise of as much as $30,000 in change for information resulting in his arrest and conviction.

According to court docket paperwork, Doolin and Perkins joined with others in objecting to Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over then-President Donald Trump. A mob attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an try to prevent Congress from certifying election effects for Biden over the Republican Trump, government mentioned. Five other folks died in the violence.

According to proof and testimony introduced at trial, Doolin and Perkins have been at the west facet of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hutchinson, driven from at the back of via Perkins, charged a line of police officers in an effort to damage during the line, prosecutors mentioned.

As officers descended into the group to assist any other officer, Perkins picked up a flagpole and thrust it into the chest of an coming near officer, government mentioned. Perkins then raised the flagpole over his head and swung it down, putting two officers in the again in their heads, officers mentioned.

Doolin and Perkins then complex nearer to the Capitol construction, the place Doolin obtained a Metropolitan Police Department crowd-control spray cannister and a U.S. Capitol Police riot protect, prosecutors mentioned. Doolin in the end re-located to a Capitol construction front passageway, the place he used the stolen riot protect to enroll in the group of rioters pushing towards the police officers within the passageway in an effort to damage via and input the Capitol, officers mentioned.

Attorneys for Doolin and Perkins did not right away reply to emails in the hunt for remark from The Associated Press.

Since Jan. 6, 2021, greater than 1,100 other folks had been arrested for crimes associated with the breach of the Capitol, officers mentioned. More than 350 other folks had been charged with assaulting or impeding regulation enforcement.

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