Prosecutors had asked for more than six years for Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, but a federal judge ruled that his actions did not obstruct “the administration of justice,” although they interfered with the official proceedings of Congress that day. A court convicted him of this offence in May. Also Thursday, the only defendant on Jan. 6 who testified about his behavior before the House committee investigating the riot was sentenced to two years of probation for disorderly conduct. Stephen Ayres, a 39-year-old carpenter from Ohio, said he thinks about Jan. 6 “every day” and prays for injured police officers and anyone who has lost a loved one. Hale-Cusanelli, 32, worked as a security guard at Naval Weapons Station Earle and lived on the base in Colts Neck, NJ. Hitler even wore a “Hitler mustache” to work, the government said in court documents. But U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden ruled that Hale-Cusanelli’s racist preferences were too prejudicial to present to a jury, although he allowed the defendant’s comments that he wanted a civil war to be shown. NJ man found guilty of felony obstruction of Congress in Jan. 6 riots Surveillance video showed Hale-Cusanelli climbing out of a window on Lower West Terrace at 2:13 p.m., moments after the first crash, wearing a gray suit and a red MAGA hat. Before entering, prosecutors said, he pushed aside a bicycle rack barrier to allow the crowds to get closer to the building, then urged the crowd to advance by waving his arms and shouting, “Forward! Payment in advance!” Once inside, Hale-Cusanelli was part of a team that overwhelmed the US Capitol and D.C. police in the vault. Photos and video showed him then trying to push a rioter away from a police officer who arrested that person. Hale-Cusanelli claimed she didn’t know the officer was an officer and that she thought the voter certification “would be in a building called ‘Congress.’ As silly as it sounds, I didn’t realize that Congress sat in the Capitol building.” On Thursday, McFadden called it an “unbelievable lie,” and after the jury convicted Hale-Cusanelli in May, the judge suggested prosecutors consider a request for a longer sentence for “obstruction of justice.” And McFadden, in fact, increased Hale-Cusanelli’s sentencing range for those affidavits. But prosecutors sought two even larger penalty enhancements for obstruction and interference with the “administration of justice” on Capitol Hill. Defense attorney Nicholas D. Smith said that while the act of Congress certifying electoral college voting can be described as a “formal process,” and all but one D.C. federal judge has agreed, the certification does not qualify as administration of justice. Prosecutors argued in their sentencing that “‘administration of justice’ is synonymous with ‘formal process.’ “ McFadden agreed with the defense. He said the Electoral College count was “noticeably different” from investigations and other congressional actions related to the judiciary. “I don’t think the administration of justice, as used in the enhancement of the sentence, is a fair way to describe what’s going on here.” He then reduced the sentencing guidelines range from 70 to 87 months to 21 to 27 months. The guidelines are advisory, but judges usually issue sentences within the range. The government had sought a 78-month sentence for Hale-Cusanelli. But McFadden blamed Hale-Cusanelli for his racist, sexist and anti-Semitic comments, some of which were caught on tape his roommate made when Hale-Cusanelli returned to New Jersey after the riot. The judge echoed a profane taunt Hale-Cusanelli yelled at a female Capitol police officer during the riot and criticized his “decision to lie on the witness stand.” “Neither the jury nor I believed your claim that you did not know that Congress resided in the Capitol building … you participated in a national embarrassment,” the judge said. Although he had reduced the sentence range to 21 to 27 months, McFadden sentenced Hale-Cusanelli to 48 months, followed by three years of supervised release. The judge credited Hale-Cusanelli for the performance remorse. “My behavior that day was unacceptable and I dishonored my uniform and dishonored the country,” Hale-Cusanelli said. He claimed he was “operating under the advice of counsel” when he testified about his confusion about where Congress stands. “I challenged the law as it applied to my case.” Elsewhere in court, Ayres told U.S. District Judge John D. Bates that he was ashamed and troubled by the political rhetoric that once captivated him. “I wish everybody in this country could stop and see where it’s going,” he said, in comments similar to those he made during a nationally televised House committee meeting on Jan. 6, where he said he hoped like-minded people would “take the blinders off.” Prosecutors had asked for 60 days in jail, citing violent social media comments Ayres made before Jan. 6 and his “lukewarm” response on Capitol Hill when asked if he still believed the 2020 presidential election was stolen. But Bates said he believed Ayres’ remorse was “genuine” and placed him on probation.
