WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who was armed with a concealed weapon as he led a mob that overran police on the steps of the Capitol was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Wednesday.
Christopher Alberts, a Donald Trump supporter from Maryland who was found guilty on nine charges in April after he testified that "instinct took over" when he charged at police with a wooden pallet during the Capitol attack, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.
Alberts, who told jurors that he “felt like it was a fraudulent election," was one of just a handful of rioters who was actually arrested on Jan. 6, 2021. Had he not been taken into custody that day, federal investigators might never have realized he had a gun during the Capitol attack. The total number of guns in the mob that day will never be known, but other defendants have admitted they were armed, including Mark Mazza, who was carrying two firearms and received five years in federal prison when he was sentenced last year. Guy Reffitt, a Jan. 6 rioter who charged up the stairs alongside Alberts and was the first Capitol rioter to go to trial, also had a gun. He was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison.
Prosecutors had sought 10 years in federal prison for Alberts, saying charging the police line while armed with a gun and wearing metal-plated body armor and a gas mask deserved a significant sentence.
"For hours, and often just steps from the Capitol Building, Alberts screamed at police officers that they were 'domestic terrorists' and were 'treasonous, communist motherf---ers,' who were improperly stopping the rioters 'from doing what’s right,'" prosecutors wrote. "He exclaimed that he and the other rioters were there 'to do what we are constitutionally allowed to do' — that is, they had 'a right' and 'a duty' to overthrow the government of the United States and install a new government.
"Since his January 6, 2021 arrest, Alberts has expressed no remorse for his crimes, instead seeking praise for being a 'hero' and 'protector' during his assault on the Capitol while slandering the police officers who valiantly struggled that day to protect it," prosecutors continued.
Prosecutors also pointed out that Albert urinated on a wall of the Capitol while yelling “f--- D.C. Metro" and later threw a bottle at the police line. He was arrested after nightfall when a police officer noticed a bulge on his hip that he recognized to be a weapon.
"Through its sentence, the Court must send an unambiguous message to Alberts that military service does not justify his betrayal of the United States on January 6, 2021," prosecutors argued.
Capitol Police Officer Stephen Sherman said in a victim impact statement that he thought rioters were going to take out guns and begin “assassinating myself and fellow officers” on the western front of the Capitol. He spoke about being unable to reach his wife, another Capitol Police officer, after he was attacked with pepper spray for a second time and how he thought she was dead.
“You came to the Capitol that day to start a war,” Sherman told Alberts.
