Texas resident Alan Swinney — who was described by The New York Times as a “self-professed member of the Proud Boys” — has been sentenced to 10 years in prison over instances of violence that he perpetrated in Portland, Oregon, amid anti-police brutality protests in the city. As summarized by the Times, Swinney’s offenses include “shooting a man in the eye with a paintball gun, spraying people in the face with bear mace and aiming a loaded handgun at a crowd.” The Proud Boys are a violent, far-right group that also has ties to the January riot at the Capitol.
Apparently, Swinney even attempted to get people to join him for the violence in which he was prepared to engage, and he ended up perpetrating serious violence while rampaging alongside fellow far-right agitators on two particular days in August of last year that came under scrutiny from prosecutors. Across those days, including August 15 and 22 of last year, Swinney shot a man in the face with a paintball gun, employed bear mace against his opponents — including by spraying it right in their face, and wielded what turned out to be a loaded Ruger .357 magnum handgun against those he opposed. Rather than pleading guilty, Swinney went on trial, and he was found guilty of 11 charges, including assault and weapons offenses.
In 5 years Trump lost the Presidency, was impeached 2X, lost the House, lost the Senate, and is sitting in FL faxing dopey statements about nothing, after inciting an insurrection at our Capitol, and cheerleading GOP in-fighting. If you can't recognize a loser, you are the loser.
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) December 11, 2021
Prosecutors characterized Swinney as having “no remorse for his actions, no desire to change and every intention of engaging in future acts of violence,” observing that amid his trial, he “quickly labeled all of the people that opposed him as terrorists… expressed joy for those that were hurt, bragged about his actions, and strongly asserted that he would do it all over again if given the chance.” Disturbingly, Swinney even wrote a letter at one point to ex-Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, who was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, a Black man who Chauvin pinned to the ground for more than nine minutes, suffocating him. Swinney wrote in that letter that the United States “has too many George Floyds in it,” adding that it’s “time to clean house.”
Guardian US: The “Options for 6 JAN” powerpoint was presented on Jan. 4 to a number of Republican senators and members of Congress, per source. Trump’s lawyers at the Willard were not shown the presentation.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) December 11, 2021
Swinney is not the first individual with ties to the Proud Boys to recently be sentenced to a lengthy stint in prison. Not too long ago, 38-year-old Jonathan M. Cuney was sentenced to over seven years in jail on weapons charges. Among other actions, Cuney “admitted that from at least August 2018 until November 12, 2019, he purchased firearms parts from several dozen online retailers, and had these items shipped” to various locations around the country, as the Justice Department revealed. Cuney used what he purchased to put together guns without serial numbers — which are more difficult to trace — and silencers. Troublingly, Cuney was also found to have illegally possessed thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Given how much evidence is already publicly available, I'm not even sure that Trump coming out and being like "Yeah, I secretly plotted to end American democracy and I'm trying to do it again" would fundamentally shift the political dynamics in America. That's how bad it is.
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) December 11, 2021
Featured Image (edited): via Anthony Crider on Wikimedia Commons, available under a Creative Commons License
