A participant in the pro-Trump mobs that descended on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, spurred by lies tracing to the now ex-president of a stolen presidential election, pleaded guilty to nine criminal charges including six felonies after attacking police at the Capitol with a baton, authorities said. Trump, as he runs for president, continues propagating the underlying conspiracy theories of a stolen election.
Defendant Anthony Mastanduno could face a lengthy prison sentence once given his consequences by federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will handle his sentencing. His felony offenses include two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a deadly and dangerous weapon — and classifying the assault charge as such raises its maximum prison term to 20 years. And that’s on each count! His list of offenses also includes civil disorder, trespassing, and disorderly conduct, with court documents specifying the latter two were also perpetrated with a deadly or dangerous weapon, making them felonies.
Mastanduno, like others facing more serious charges stemming from the Capitol attack, engaged in violence in and around the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace tunnel. He went to the area after briefly spending time inside the Capitol building itself shortly after rioters entered the structure for the first time that afternoon.
A press release accuses the defendant of joining “coordinated attacks” against law enforcement in which he used a variety of implements, ranging from the baton to a riot shield originating with police themselves that day. “First, Mastanduno picked up and threw a blue, flagpole-like object into the mouth of the Tunnel, as if throwing a javelin or spear, toward a line of police officers. He then obtained a police shield that had been stolen from officers, which he used to push against the same line of police at the mouth of the Tunnel,” authorities said. Mastanduno reportedly used the baton against officers in tandem with his usage of the shield.
