A Virginia man who told a federal jury — that he had “fun” at the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison for attacking police officers as he stormed the building.
It seems the judge cut Markus Maly a little slack because prosecutors were looking to get him behind bars for 15 years, but his sentence was significantly lowered to six years. A prosecutor described Maly, 49, as a “lifelong criminal” with 33 prior convictions on his record, including two for battery of a law enforcement officer. But the judge who sentenced Maly noted that most of his crimes date back to his 20s.
“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.’”
Maly admitted to having fun during the event but he says he does regret taking a bus to Washington DC on that day.
“I went to a rally. That’s what I did,” he told the judge.
The judge went on to warn him that the jury has a lot of evidence that could convict him for assaulting an officer.
RELATED: Detective Divorces Wife After Spotting Her At Us Capitol Riot With Another Man
“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.
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.
On the morning of Jan. 6, Maly took a bus from his home in Fincastle, Virginia, to Washington to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. He later joined the mob that attacked police on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, one of the most violent clashes of the day.