Dawn Bancroft, a Capitol rioter who infamously recorded a video near the Capitol in which she raised the threat of shooting Nancy Pelosi, was sentenced on Thursday to two months in jail.
In a video she took of herself after she exited the Capitol, Bancroft said: “We broke into the Capitol, we got inside, we did our part… We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the frickin’ brain, but we didn’t find her.” Clearly, even after seeing the violence of that day firsthand, Bancroft was relatively unmoved in her underlying convictions and remained committed to the cause — although she expressed remorse during sentencing proceedings this week. Bancroft said she “made a very bad choice that day” in D.C. Two months in prison was the request of the Justice Department, which federal Judge Emmet Sullivan opted to impose, although he was permitted to sentence Bancroft to a different span of time in jail.
“Those comments, Mrs. Bancroft, are not acceptable in a democratic society… I feel bad for you, I feel bad for you that you made these comments,” Sullivan remarked this week, discussing Bancroft’s infamous selfie video. “The comments made by you on the steps of the Capitol in the presence of others… they were reckless statements that people should be held accountable for,” the judge added Thursday. Bancroft previously pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor offense: illegally parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol, which can result in up to six months in prison if a defendant is found or pleads guilty. Bancroft’s sentence also includes three years of probation and 100 hours of community service.
Carina Laguzzi, a lawyer for Bancroft, blamed factors including rhetoric from Trump for leading Bancroft to participate in the riot. She also alleged Bancroft wasn’t speaking literally in that video she took. A glaring problem with that assertion is people had firearms in the crowd that descended on the Capitol, with additional weapons stashed nearby thanks in part to the far-right group known as the Oath Keepers. It’s not as though Bancroft was just ranting on the street — people actually set themselves up to potentially try and do exactly what she referenced. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said during a hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, where he serves as a member, that “a confidential informant from the Proud Boys told the FBI the Proud Boys would have killed Mike Pence if given a chance” — which obviously isn’t that difficult to imagine considering publicly available details. Gallows didn’t appear outside the Capitol because rioters were interested in having a chat with those inside the building.
The first rioter convicted at trial, Guy Reffitt, will be sentenced August 1 — and when in D.C., he carried a gun and plastic hand-cuffs, exemplifying that he was evidently prepared to essentially take hostages. In Reffitt’s case, prosecutors asked for 15 years in prison and pushed for his actions to be recognized as terrorist in nature. Reffitt’s defense pushed for a sentence below the relevant advisory guidelines for his case. Hundreds of Capitol rioters struck plea deals with the government so far. Another who opted for trial was found guilty by a jury of offenses including a felony this Thursday afternoon.
Image: Brett Davis/ Creative Commons
