FBI Arrests Other Insurrectionist from Florida and Colorado –

Staff Report –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A man who watched and cheered the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, then moved to the front of the Trump mob and hurled a fire extinguisher, a plank and a long pole at police officers, was sentenced Friday to more than five years in federal prison, the longest sentence so far for anyone charged in the Capitol insurrection, according The Washington Post.

Robert S. Palmer, 54, of Largo, Fla., pleaded guilty in October to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon, and his original plea agreement called for a sentencing range of 46 to 57 months. But after his plea, and his entry into the D.C. jail, Palmer arranged to make an online fundraising plea in which he said he did “go on the defense and throw a fire extinguisher at the police” after being shot with rubber bullets and tear gas.

That was a lie, Palmer admitted Friday. He had thrown a fire extinguisher — twice — a large plank and then a four- to five-foot pole at police before he was struck with one rubber bullet. The falsehood indicated a failure to accept responsibility for his actions, prosecutors argued, and U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan agreed, increasing his sentencing range to 63 to 78 months, ultimately imposing a 63-month term.

“Look behind you,” Chutkan instructed Palmer in the courtroom. “Those are U.S. marshals. They ran from this courthouse. They put themselves in danger to protect the occupants of the Capitol. That’s what they’re sworn to do. They’re the patriots. The people working in the Capitol that night, they are patriots. Doing what they get paid to do, they didn’t know if they were going to come out of there alive that night.”

Palmer said, “I’m really, really ashamed of what I did.”

He said that while in jail he saw footage of himself on an MSNBC news program.

“I was horrified, absolutely devastated to see myself on there,” Palmer said.

In a letter to the judge last month, he wrote, “I realize that we, meaning Trump supporters, were lied to by those that at the time had great power, meaning the sitting president as well as those acting on his behalf.”

Of the more than 130 defendants who have been charged with assaulting police on Jan. 6, Palmer is the second who has been sentenced. Prosecutors gave him credit for surrendering in March and cooperating with the FBI, and asked Chutkan to give him the low end of the 63- to 78-month range suggested by federal sentencing guidelines. Chutkan said the average sentence given to defendants in that range was 66 months.

After Palmer arrived at the Capitol on Jan. 6, video footage captured him leaning over a railing on the upper west terrace, where the most ferocious fighting was occurring between the mob and police, cheering and holding a sign stating “Biden is a Pedophile,” court records state. He was wearing a “Florida for Trump” hat and a jacket designed like the flag of the United States and can be seen on video cheering on the violence.

About 50 minutes later, Palmer made his way down to the heart of the battle, prosecutors said, holding a wooden plank and then throwing it at officers. It landed atop a riot shield. Palmer was not accused of directly injuring anyone.

Minutes later, another rioter began spraying a fire extinguisher at officers, dropped it, and then Palmer can be seen picking it up and spraying it at the officers until it was empty. He then reared back and threw it into the officers, again hitting a riot shield. Soon after, he picked it up and hurled it a second time, the video shows, along with an orange traffic barrier.

While still on the plaza, around 5:15 p.m., Palmer obtained a four- to five-foot pole and ignored warnings from Virginia State Police officers to drop it. He then began screaming obscenities and threw the pole like a spear, prosecutors said. As he did so, a state trooper fired a 40mm rubber bullet, which hit him in the stomach. The pole did not hit anyone.

The rubber bullet knocked Palmer down, but he soon was back up again, and lying about why he was shot, the government said.

“Attempting to portray himself as the victim,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo, “rather than the aggressor, Palmer pointed at his abdomen, shouting, ‘This is the United States. This is what our country is doing to its citizens.’ ”

Palmer later gave media interviews portraying himself as a victim and that he had done nothing wrong.

Chutkan asked him about his online post last month, seeking to raise money for his defense, in which he said he was acting in self-defense.

“When you threw the fire extinguisher and the pole,” the judge asked, “were you acting in self-defense?”

“No, ma’am, I was not,” Palmer replied.

Later, Palmer said: “The officers were so brave to stand there and take the stuff they did. I’m just very ashamed to be a part of that. … It was a lie. It should never have happened.”

“I don’t know if your remorse now is genuine or not,” Chutkan said. “It sounds like it is. Your actions after your plea undercut that argument.”

“The men and women who kept democracy functioning that day, and saved lives, they deserve the thanks of the nation,” the judge added. “They didn’t deserve to have fire extinguishers thrown at them; they didn’t deserve to be spat on. Perhaps, having seen yourself on videotape and media coverage, you understand how terrified the rest of this country must have been.”

Florida Man Arrested For Assault on Police During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

Another man from Florida man arrested this week for assaulting law enforcement and inflicting bodily injury during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Mason Joel Courson, 26, of Tamarac, Florida, is charged with federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and inflicting bodily injury, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, among other charges, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Courson was arrested in Tamarac, Florida, and made his initial court appearance in the Southern District of Florida. He was detained pending further court proceedings.

Courson and a second defendant, Justin Jersey, 31, of Flint, Michigan, were named as additional defendants in a third superseding indictment returned on Nov. 17, 2021, in the District of Columbia. Jersey was arrested on Dec. 2, 2021.

Courson is charged with a total of eight offenses in the indictment. The case previously included seven other defendants: Logan James Barnhart, of Lansing, Michigan; Michael John Lopatic Sr., of Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Ronald Colton McAbee, of Unionville, Tennessee; Clayton Ray Mullins, of Benton, Kentucky; Jeffrey Sabol, of Kittredge, Colorado; Peter Francis Stager, of Conway, Arkansas, and Jack Wade Whitton, of Locust Grove, Georgia. All are charged with assaulting law enforcement and related offenses. The superseding indictment adds civil disorder charges against Sabol and Whitton.

According to the indictment, at approximately 4:27 p.m., Courson participated in an assault of a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was beaten by a group armed with a baton, flagpole, and crutch. Earlier that afternoon, at approximately 3:16 p.m., Courson allegedly participated in “heave-ho” efforts to advance into the Capitol in the area of the Lower West Terrace tunnel leading into the building.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified Courson as #129 in its seeking information photos, as well as the FBI’s Miami Field Office. Significant assistance has been provided in the investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Capitol Police, and other FBI field offices.

Colorado Man Arrested for Assault on Police During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

A Colorado man has been arrested for assaulting law enforcement and other crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Avery Carter MacCracken, 68, of Telluride, Colorado, is charged with engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, inflicting bodily injury, among other charges, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

He was arrested on Dec. 11, 2021, in Telluride, Colorado, and made his initial appearance in the District of Colorado. He remains detained pending further court proceedings.

According to court documents, on Jan. 6, MacCracken approached a police line that was attempting to protect the Capitol building and grounds. He assaulted an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department with pushes, shoves, and a strike to the face. The punch to the officer’s cheek caused a cut to the officer’s face under his eye. Additionally, according to court documents, MacCracken moved along the police line and assaulted a second Metropolitan Police Department Officer by pushing, shoving, and grabbing the officer.

This case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. Valuable assistance was provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.

The case is being investigated by the Grand Junction Resident Agency of the FBI’s Denver Division and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, which identified MacCracken as #387 in its seeking information photos. Valuable assistance was provided by the San Miguel County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office, the Telluride Marshal’s Office, the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police.

In the 11 months since Jan. 6, more than 700 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

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