Marine accused of flashing a Nazi salute during the Capitol riot gets almost 5 years in prison

A Marine accused of flashing a Nazi salute during the U.S. Capitol insurrection has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for assaulting police…

apnews.com

U.S. NEWS

Marine accused of flashing a Nazi salute during the Capitol riot gets almost 5 years in prison

This image from U.S. Capitol Police security video and contained in the government’s sentencing memorandum for Tyler Bradley Dykes, marked in red by source, shows him in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Dykes, a South Carolina resident and active Marine accused of flashing a Nazi salute during the insurrection, has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for assaulting police officers who were guarding the building. Dykes grabbed a police riot shield from the hands of two police officers and used it to push his way through police lines at the Capitol.(Department of Justice via AP)

BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Updated 11:31 AM PDT, July 19, 2024

A Marine who stormed the U.S. Capitol and apparently flashed a Nazi salute in front of the building was sentenced on Friday to nearly five years in prison.

Tyler Bradley Dykes, of South Carolina, was an active-duty Marine when he grabbed a police riot shield from the hands of two police officers and used it to push his way through police lines during the attack by the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dykes, who pleaded guilty in April to assault charges, previously was convicted of a crime stemming from the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dykes was transferred to federal custody in 2023 after he served a six-month sentence in a state prison.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Dykes, who’s 26, to four years and nine months of imprisonment, the Justice Department said.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of five years and three months for Dykes.

“He directly contributed to some of the most extreme violence on the Capitol’s east front,” prosecutors wrote.

Dykes’ attorneys requested a two-year prison sentence. They said Dykes knows his actions on Jan. 6 were “illegal, indefensible and intolerable.”

“Tyler hates his involvement in the Capitol riot,” his lawyers wrote. “He takes complete responsibility for his actions. Tyler apologizes for those actions.”

Dykes, then 22, traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend the Republican Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally with two friends from his hometown of Bluffton, South Carolina. After parting ways with his friends, Dykes ripped snow fencing out of the ground and pulled aside bicycle rack barricades as he approached the Capitol.

Later, Dykes joined other rioters in breaking through a line of police officers who were defending stairs leading to the Capitol’s East Rotunda Doors.

“After reaching the top of the stairs, Dykes celebrated his accomplishment, performing what appears to be the Sieg Heil salute,” prosecutors wrote.

After stealing the riot shield from the two officers, Dykes entered the Capitol and held it in one hand while he raised his other hand in celebration. He also used the shield to assault police officers inside the building, forcing them to retreat down a hallway, prosecutors said.

Dykes gave the shield to an officer after he left the Capitol.

Dykes denied that he performed a Nazi salute on Jan. 6, but prosecutors say his open-handed gesture was captured on video.

In August 2017, photos captured Dykes joining tiki torch-toting white supremacists on a march through the University of Virginia’s campus on the eve of the Unite the Right rally. A photo shows him extending his right arm in a Nazi salute and carrying a lit torch in his left hand.

In March 2023, Dykes was arrested on charges related to the march. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of burning an object with intent to intimidate.

Dykes briefly attended Cornell University in the fall of 2017 before he joined the Marine Corps. In May 2023, he was discharged from the military under “other than honorable” conditions.

“Rather than honor his oath to protect and defend the Constitution, Dykes’s criminal activity on January 6 shows he was instead choosing to violate it,” prosecutors wrote.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 900 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.

Arizona Republican becomes first fake elector to plead guilty for role in Trump scheme

It's the second victory for Arizona prosecutors this week in their sweeping case against many Trump allies.

www.yahoo.com

Arizona Republican becomes first fake elector to plead guilty for role in Tinyhanded scheme

Kyle Cheney
Tue, August 6, 2024 at 5:29 PM PDT·3 min read

An Arizona Republican who falsely claimed to be a legitimate presidential elector for former President Donald Trump — part of a sweeping effort by Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election — has pleaded guilty for her role in the scheme.

Lorraine Pellegrino, one of 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely posed as Trump’s electors that year, accepted a guilty plea to a single charge for filing a “false instrument” — the fraudulent Electoral College certificate. The state charge was one of several she faced for allegedly joining in a conspiracy to corrupt Arizona’s election results.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes charged the 11 fake electors, as well as several top Trump allies, in a broad indictment in April. Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case, but he was identified by a state grand jury as an unindicted coconspirator. Trump was also charged federally and in Georgia with felonies arising from his fake elector scheme and other efforts to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.

Pellegrino’s plea deal is the second victory in the Arizona case in as many days for Mayes, a Democrat. Another one of the 18 defendants, former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, began cooperating with prosecutors this week in exchange for a deal to dismiss the charges she faced. Ellis similarly cooperated with prosecutors last year in the Georgia case.

Pellegrino is the first participant in the elector scheme to accept criminal responsibility for signing the false documents, though dozens have been charged in a handful of states. Filings on the Arizona docket indicate that the other charges she faced, including conspiracy and forgery, were dismissed in light of the deal. Other filings revealed the terms of her deal, which includes three years of probation and no jail time.

“Loraine Pellegrino’s decision to accept a plea to a lesser charge reflects her desire to move forward and put this matter behind her,” said Pellegrino’s attorney Joshua Kolsrud. “She has taken full responsibility for her actions, demonstrating her commitment to upholding the law and contributing positively to the community. The sentence of unsupervised probation with community service acknowledges her remorse and willingness to make amends.”

After his defeat at the polls in 2020, Trump’s lawyers hatched a plan to convene their own sets of presidential electors in some states where Biden was the certified victor. Initially, the attorneys said the so-called contingent electors were meant as placeholders in case Trump prevailed in any of his lawsuits to overturn the election results.

Trump allies, like Ellis and Rudy Giuliani, also began leaning on Republican state legislatures to certify the Trump electors in order to stoke further proceedings and legal battles. As those efforts faltered, Trump eventually eyed an even more desperate plan: Use the existence of the false slates of electors to foment a controversy on Jan. 6, 2021, the day Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence were charged with certifying the election results.

Pence refused to accede to the plan, drawing Trump’s fury and ultimately the wrath of a pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol and derailed the electoral vote count for hours that day, threatening the transfer of power.

Cages.

Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for election tampering

The Republican county clerk was convicted for giving a person affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of former President Trump, access to election…

abcnews.go.com

Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for election tampering

The former county clerk was convicted of breaching an elections computer system.

ByLaura Romero
October 3, 2024, 12:06 PM

Former Mesa County, Colorado, clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for leading a security breach of the county's election system after being inspired by false and baseless claims of voting fraud.

Peters, a Republican, was convicted for giving an individual affiliated with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of former President Donald Trump, access to the election software she used for her county. Screenshots of the software appeared on right-wing websites.

She was found guilty on most of the charges related to election tampering and misconduct.

"Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious," District Judge Matthews Barrett said. "I'm convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You're as defiant as a defendant as this Court has never seen."

"There are many things in my mind that are crystal clear about this case, you are no hero," Barrett added. "You abused your position, and you're a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk, time and time again."

Barrett called the damage done by Peters to undermine the integrity of elections "immeasurable."

Before being sentenced, Peters took the stand to ask for probation, and told the judge she "never did anything with malice" and believed she was serving the people in Mesa County.

Candidate Tina Peters speaks during a debate for the state leadership position, Feb. 25, 2023, in Hudson, Colo. David Zalubowski/AP

"I'm not a criminal and I don't deserve to go into a prison where other people have committed heinous crimes," Peters said.

MORE: Bombshell immunity filing details Trump's alleged 'increasingly desperate' bid to overturn 2020 election

The former Mesa County clerk, who gave a lengthy and emotional speech, told the judge she would be willing to not talk about elections anymore if sentenced to probation.

"I really am remorseful," she said.

Peters became a leading figure fueling false and baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud after the 2020 election. Since then, Peters has held a number of election denial events with Lindell.

The former clerk is the first local election official convicted of a security breach after the 2020 presidential election, the Associated Press reported.

"I came to Colorado today because you have here in Colorado the key to the whole nation," Lindell said in 2022, "because you had a great county clerk, Tina Peters, (who) did her job."

Lindell has not been charged in the case.

During Thursday's hearing, election denier Douglas Frank, a Lindell associate, said Peters was among many election officials who were "understandably concerned" about the 2020 election.

"Tina Peters is no conspirator, Tina Peters is a patriot," Frank said.

Matt Crane, the executive director of the Colorado County Clerks Association, testified that Peters' actions have led directly to death threats against election officials in the state.

"We've seen long time clerks choose retirement due to the flames that Tina has willfully fanned," Crane said.

"These people have had their jobs made immeasurably harder by what Tina Peters did and her ongoing efforts to fuel the machine that continues to spread lies and disinformation," Crane said.

"But most importantly, her actions have contributed to millions of Americans developing a distrust in their election for no reason," he added.

Quote from Redwing7

What's up Scrote! You back to war profiteering? Or still making trips to the frozen alien outpost?

Hey. Nice of you to stop in and see the peasants. As you can see, Storch is pretty butthurt these days.

I have given up those nefarious pursuits for a new one. I'm a Fed now. Turns out Feds have broken heavy equipment too. I'm a foreman in California.

Thoughts and Prayers!