Pauline Bauer, a woman from a small town in Pennsylvania where her ownership of a local pizzeria has stretched for some 15 years, has officially been sentenced to prison after she was convicted of a series of federal criminal charges for joining the Trump-incited Capitol riot in 2021.
Her sentence is 27 months, with an accompanying two-year stint of supervised release and $2,000 in financial penalties. As she’s already spent time in custody, she may be starting out with less than the cited total remaining.
Bauer’s case became notable in part because of her apparent interest in a far-right ideology that asserts she’s generally immune from the legal system as it presently stands in the U.S. Also associated with that ideology are conspiracy theories about the supposedly general lack of truth to how the legal make-up of the country as we know it is presented. (The whole thing is called the sovereign citizen movement.)
While at the Capitol, Bauer joined those confronting police and ranted in favor of hanging Nancy Pelosi, who was still the House Speaker at the time. Bauer seemingly also had the idea that police officers would help with this effort. “Bring that fucking bitch out here now,” she said, according to a press release from the Justice Department. “Bring her out. Bring her out here. We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out here.”
Pelosi, like many other government officials, effectively evaded the violent threats from the mob, at least in terms of actual physical impacts, but that wasn’t necessarily a sure thing. Gallows were infamously constructed outside the Capitol, illustrating how serious some of these people were about committing potentially deadly violence. Besides chanting in favor of hanging Mike Pence, police were also targets. It also remains unknown who planted pipe bombs outside local HQs for the national party organizations for Democrats and Republicans.
Bauer’s charges of which she was convicted included obstruction of an official proceeding and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol. The obstruction charge was a felony, while the latter was a misdemeanor. Both have repeatedly been used by federal prosecutors in criminal cases originating with the Capitol attack.
