A Capitol rioter originally arrested all the way back in February 2021 was sentenced this week by federal Judge Royce Lamberth to more than seven years in prison.
Defendant Taylor James Johnatakis was originally convicted by a jury of felony and misdemeanor charges including obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding police (the felonies).
Notably, Johnatakis also reportedly espoused what are known as “sovereign citizen” views during the course of his case. Adherents allege, as the name suggests, that the federal government as it’s generally put forward and understood doesn’t actually have dominion over them. Participants in the movement “believe that they can ignore laws, regulations, court orders and taxes because they have divorced themselves from what they claim is an illegitimate, tyrannical government,” the Anti-Defamation League explained.
Johnatakis — not the first Capitol riot defendant to put forward such beliefs (check out Pauline Bauer) — still got a lengthy prison sentence anyway. His sentence was 87 months, which works out to seven years and a quarter.
At the Capitol, details provided by federal authorities credit Johnatakis with leading a charge against a group of police officers outside the building, activities upon which prosecutors have consistently focused.
“Police officers retreated and formed another police line to protect the Capitol building and the members of Congress inside at the top of the stairs,” a federal press release says, describing developments shortly after other rioters first breached the building. “Johnatakis was among the first rioters to march up the Southwest stairs to confront them.” He also barked demands for other rioters through a megaphone he was carrying, authorities said. And the government says Johnatakis personally participated in the assault, helping push metal bike racks at police.
The racks were meant originally for a perimeter at the Capitol complex before rioters began using them as part of their menagerie of weapons both makeshift and prepared that were wielded largely against police officers.
