WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced a Maine butcher to more than seven years in prison Thursday for causing a career-ending injury to a U.S. Capitol Police sergeant during the Jan. 6 riot.
Kyle Fitzsimons, 39, of Lebanon, Maine, was convicted in September on 11 counts, including felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder and four counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding police. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced him to 87 months, or seven years and three months, in prison and ordered him to pay $2,000 in restitution.
Fitzsimons rejected a plea offer and went to trial in August, facing video footage from multiple angles showing his repeated assaults and the testimony of three officers who took the stand to testify about being attacked. One, DC Police Officer Sarah Beaver, was struck in the head by an unstrung bow Fitzsimons threw into the police line in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. Another, DC Police Officer Phuson Nguyen, said Fitzsimons broke the seal on his gas mask and caused noxious pepper spray to be trapped inside. The third officer, U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, testified that it was Fitzsimons who grabbed his shield and ripped him to the ground – causing an injury to his shoulder that required surgery to repair and which, ultimately, has led to his early medical retirement from the force.
Although Fitzsimons’ attorney claimed he was attempting to defend another rioter when he assaulted police inside the tunnel, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who convicted Fitzsimons on all 11 counts against him in a bench trial, said at the time he had no doubt Fitzsimons’ intention was to hurt law enforcement. Despite the multiple counts of assaulting police, Contreras said Thursday he viewed the attacks as a singular moment of loss of control.
"In reality it was a single burst of frenzied fury," the judge said.
Although he ultimately imposed a sentence less than half of what prosecutors had requested, Contreras on multiple occasions expressed his worry about whether Fitzsimons would commit further acts of politically motivated violence once released — citing as evidence Fitzsimons' own words to his mother.
"Let me tell you my concern," Contreras said. "He told his mother in that jail call, 'I just did what I was told.' I agree with him. But that hasn't been a defense at least since Nuremburg. We're headed for a rematch. If that call goes out again, what comfort should I have that he won't be one of those able bodies?"
In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gordon and Douglas Brasher had asked Contreras to sentence Fitzsimons to 188 months, or more than 15 years, in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and a $26,892 fine. The prison term, they argued, was appropriate for the violence and “utter lack of remorse” Fitzimons has shown. The fine was sought to capture money he raised through a “J6 Family Relief Fund” prosecutors said portrayed him as a “mere rallygoer who is being unconstitutionally prosecuted.”
“Fitzsimons should not be able to capitalize on the violence and chaos that he unleashed, the injuries he inflicted, or the damage he caused during the Capitol riot in this way,” prosecutors wrote.
Contreras declined to impose a fine, saying he didn't have enough information about the fundraising account and thought Fitzsimons' 3-year-old daughter needed to be provided for.
Fitzsimons filed his sentencing memo under seal, but did file a document with a list of sentences received by other defendants he argued were relevant case comparisons. They included Geoffrey Sills, a Virginia 3D artists who received 52 months in prison for assaulting police inside the same tunnel as Fitzsimons, Robert Morss, a former Army Ranger who helped lead the crowd in the tunnel and received 66 months, and Josiah Kenyon, a Nevada man who used a table leg with a protruding nail to strike officers and received 72 months in prison. All three men accepted plea deals with the government.
Fitzsimons spoke briefly during the hearing, saying he'd resisted believing he had "endangered this republic" but now knew it to be true. He also apologized to Gonell, who gave a victim impact statement and was in the courtroom to hear the verdict announced.
"I am especially concious of the fulfillment a man derives from his work, and I am sorry Sgt. Gonell is no longer a part of the Capitol Police Department," Fitzsimons said. "Thank you for letting me go home."
Fitzsimons will receive credit for the more than two years he has already served in pretrial detention since his arrest in February 2021. Contreras granted a request from his attorney to recommend placement at FCI Coleman in Florida, near where his mother lives.