A veteran of the U.S. Marines was recently sentenced by federal Judge Tanya Chutkan to over three years in prison after she decided on conviction at a bench trial, pinning on the defendant two felony offenses over participation in the Capitol violence of January 6, 2021. His specific sentence was 40 months in prison and two years of supervised release, which will follow his imprisonment.
Judges rather than juries decide the outcome at bench trials. Defendant Michael Joseph Foy was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding police, stemming in part from using a hockey stick against officers attempting to defend the Capitol complex during Trump supporters’ attack. Reportedly, the stick originally bore a pro-Trump flag. These confrontations behind the serious case against Foy unfolded more than two hours after Capitol riot participants first entered the actual Capitol building elsewhere.
“Body-worn camera footage and open-source video show Foy swinging his hockey stick and striking at officers at least 11 times with violent force over the course of 16 seconds. Foy’s victims included an injured officer who had already fallen to the ground and an officer whom Foy struck and knocked backward,” per a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for Washington, D.C.
The same federal recap compares Foy’s movements to those involved in swinging an ax. At the time, he was around the tunnel at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, a location that the more serious criminal cases from January 6, particularly those involving assault allegations, have often referenced.
Foy subsequently entered the Capitol building, according to federal authorities’ account. The same press release says he originally intended to attend the large, outdoor rally held in Washington, D.C., that day where former President Donald Trump advanced again his false claims of systematic election fraud — conspiracy theories that he still propagates.
