WASHINGTON — An Iowa man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Tuesday for restraining former DC Police Officer Mike Fanone while other rioters assaulted him on Jan. 6.
Kyle Young, 38, of Redfield, Iowa, pleaded guilty in May to one felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding a police officer. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop a number of other felony charges, including a second count of assaulting, resisting or impeding 30-year U.S. Capitol Police Officer Morris Moore.
Though Young was facing sentencing Tuesday on only a single charge, prosecutors argued his significant criminal history and his role in the brutal assault on Fanone – as well as other assaultive acts for which he was not charged, including helping another rioter throw a speaker at police – warranted 86 months, or a little more than seven years, in prison. Fanone, who along with Moore gave a victim impact statement on Tuesday, asked for 10 years.
Fanone has spoken publicly on many occasions about his brutal assault on Jan. 6, in which rioters repeatedly beat and tased him until he lost consciousness and threatened to use his own gun to kill him. On Tuesday, Fanone said the “sterile” description of what Young pleaded guilty to – restraining his wrist while other rioters attacked him – didn’t capture the full measure of what he’d done.
“The assault on me by Mr. Young cost me my career,” Fanone said. “It cost me my faith in law enforcement and many of the institutions I spent two decades of my life serving.”
Fanone had worked as an undercover narcotics officer with DC Police prior to Jan. 6. He left the department in December, in part because the publicity surrounding reporting on his attack and his appearance before the January 6th Committee made him too recognizable to continue in that role.
Young spoke briefly at the hearing, apologizing to Fanone and saying what he did “eats at me every day.” His attorney, Sam Moore, said Young had immediately regretted what he’d done and that he’d involved his 16-year-old son, who went to the Capitol with him, in such a violent event.
Moore asked for a sentence of 24 months that would have been far below the guideline range of 77-96 months Young faced. Before delivering her sentence, U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson said Moore had downplayed Young’s conduct too much in his sentencing memo. Young had, she pointed out, provided another rioter named Danny Rodriguez with the stun gun he’s accused of using twice against Fanone’s neck, and even showed him how to turn it on. Rodriguez was indicted on eight counts in a separate case and is scheduled to begin trial in February.
Jackson said even if the facts of the case stopped right there, Young would be looking at a significant prison sentence. But, she said, they didn’t.
“You cannot minimize this,” Jackson said. “You cannot wish this away by using less objectionable verbs and the passive voice.”
Jackson pointed out more than a half dozen times Young decided not to turn away from violence, but to embrace it. She cited the speaker he helped throw at officers, as well as a pole he threw moments later. She noted open source video shows Young pointing to the mob dragging Fanone out of the Lower West Terrace Tunnel and then pushing his way through to get to him. And, she said, he held Fanone down while he yelled out he had children, even as Young’s own teenage son was right behind him.
“In sum, you were a one-man wrecking ball that day,” Jackson said.
Jackson also pushed back on a claim by Young’s attorney that, because of the unique nature of Jan. 6, he was unlikely to offend in the same way again. The judge said the divisions in the country that caused the attack on the Capitol haven’t healed, and political actors are still taking advantage of that.
“Some people are still cynically manipulating and stoking that anger for their own ends,” Jackson said.
"The judiciary, if no one else, has to make it crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America to stand up for one man who knows full well that he lost instead of the Constitution he was trying to subvert," Jackson added.
Jackson ultimately ordered Young to serve 86 months in prison, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release and 100 hours of community service. Young will also have to pay $2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol and may be ordered to pay additional restitution to Fanone.
Young, who has been in pretrial detention since his arrest last April, will receive credit for the approximately 17 months he’s already served. Jackson said she would recommend he be placed in a federal facility near his family in Iowa.
We're tracking all of the arrests, charges and investigations into the January 6 assault on the Capitol. Sign up for our Capitol Breach Newsletter here so that you never miss an update.