A Capitol rioter from Alabama who was shot in the face by police but still invaded Congress with a knife on his hip and rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk while the Texas senator hid in a closet, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.
On 6 January 2021, outside the Capitol in Washington, a police officer shot Joshua Matthew Black in his left cheek with a crowd-control munition. The resulting bloody hole in his face did not stop Black from occupying the Senate with other rioters after lawmakers ran.
“Black was a notorious offender during the attack on the Capitol,” prosecutors said in a court filing.
“The nation was shocked and appalled at the events of January 6, and perhaps no other incident sparked as much outrage and distress as Black and other rioters’ occupation of the Senate chamber.”
Prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence for Black, 47 and from Leeds, a suburb of Birmingham.
A US district judge, Amy Berman Jackson, sentenced Black to 22 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release.
Black did not testify before being convicted in January of five charges, including three felonies, after trial testimony was given without a jury. Jackson acquitted Black of one count, obstructing a congressional proceeding.
Black joined the mob that disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. But the judge concluded that prosecutors did not prove Black knowingly intended to obstruct or impede proceedings.
A defense attorney, Clark Fleckinger, said Black was an evangelical Christian who believed God directed him to go to Washington so he could “plead the blood of Jesus” on the Senate floor “to foster congressional atonement for what he perceived to be the transgressions of [a] corrupt Democratic party and Republican party”.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Roughly 500 have been sentenced to imprisonment ranging from seven days to more than 14 years. Nineteen have received sentences of five years or longer.
Black, who runs a lawn-mowing business, traveled alone to Washington to attend Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally. He then joined the crowd walking to the Capitol. Armed with a concealed knife, he was the first rioter to breach a barricade at the Capitol’s lower west terrace.
“This brazen act no doubt encouraged other rioters, who soon after overran the entire Lower West Terrace,” prosecutors wrote.
Black joined the mob on the west plaza, where police shot him with a “less-than-lethal” munition.
“Rioters near Black became enraged that he was shot, and they harassed and assaulted officers,” prosecutors wrote.
After entering the Capitol through the east rotunda, Black breached the Senate chamber and remained inside for more than 20 minutes.
Black rummaged through a desk assigned to Cruz – who has described how he and other senators took refuge in a supply closet – and posed for photos on the Senate dais.
Before leaving, Black joined other rioters in a “raucous demonstration styled as a prayer” and led by Jacob Chansley, the self-styled “QAnon Shaman”, prosecutors said.
Black later told the FBI he had a hunting knife in a sheath beneath his coat while in the Senate chamber. Agents found the knife at Black’s home when they arrested him on 14 January 2021.
He was jailed in Washington and remained detained until a judge ordered his release on 24 April. He will get credit for jail time served.
Source: Elections - theguardian.com
