WASHINGTON (AP) – A Virginia man who told his wife – and a federal jury – that he had “fun” at the United States (US) Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for attacking police as he stormed the building.
Markus Maly’s prison sentence is significantly lower than the punishment that prosecutors sought for his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
The Justice Department had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Maly, a flooring installer. A prosecutor described Maly as a “lifelong criminal” with 33 prior convictions on his record, including two for battery of a law enforcement officer. Maly told US District Judge Amit Mehta that he regrets travelling to Washington and following the mob of then-president Donald Trump’s supporters to the Capitol.
But he insisted that he merely “occupied space” in the crowd and denied attacking and pepper-spraying police.
“I went to a rally. That’s what I did,” he told the judge.
The judge said jurors had ample evidence to convict Maly of assaulting police.
“It’s not that you were there and ‘occupying space.’ It’s that you did these things and kept doing them that day,” the judge told him.
Prosecutors said Maly is one of many Capitol rioters who have tried to profit from their notoriety, portraying themselves as patriots, martyrs or political prisoners as they solicit donations from supporters.
Maly has raised more than USD16,500 through a GiveSendGo donation page, referring to himself as a “January 6 prisoner of war (POW)”. Prosecutors asked the judge to fine him an amount commensurate with his fundraising haul, noting that he had a public defender and didn’t owe any legal fees. The judge declined to impose a fine. He said Maly’s fundraising activities may have been “unseemly”, but he questioned whether there was a legal basis for clawing back the money.
Maly testified at his trial that participating in the Capitol riot was “fun” for him. He also described the events of January 6 as “fun” and “awesome” in messages sent to his wife and others.
“Maly admitted to being proud of what he had done at the Capitol and that he had bragged about it,” prosecutor Stephen Rancourt wrote in a court filing.
“Despite seeing police officers assaulted, injured, and distressed on January 6, and knowing that it was a bad day for members of Congress and the police officers who had to live through the riot, Maly reiterated that his experience that day was ‘fun’.”
The judge at Maly’s trial previously handed down the longest sentence for a Capitol riot case: 18 years for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of orchestrating a violent plot to keep Trump in the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
Maly has been jailed since a jury convicted him in December of all eight charges against him, including felony counts of civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding police using a dangerous weapon.
