A man from Texas who hit a police officer on January 6 was given a four-year sentence.
Prosecutors say that Lucas Denney, a former military police officer, attacked officers for 90 minutes with a pipe and chemical spray and that he was a former military police officer.
A former military police officer from Texas, who was excited about causing physical harm to U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, fought with police there for almost 90 minutes, and then lied to the FBI about being in Washington when they asked where he was. He was sentenced to a little more than four years in prison on Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors wanted Lucas Denney, 45, of Mansfield, Texas, to spend eight years in prison. They said that Denney's helmet, tactical vest, and hardened gloves were body armor and should add 30 months to his possible sentence. But U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss turned down the 30-month increase and gave the man a 52-month sentence. That was less than the range of 57 to 71 months that the federal guidelines, which are only suggestions, say is best.
Starting in December 2020, Denney started trying to get members of the Patriot Boys of North Texas, a new militant group, to join him in D.C. Prosecutors said in their sentencing brief that the money was used to pay for the "Stop the Steal" rally, where President Donald Trump falsely claimed there was election fraud, and to buy weapons, gear, and travel. Denney wrote on Facebook, "We're joining up with the thousands of Proud Boys and other militia members who will be there. This will be very important. And there will be a fight."
Prosecutors said that Denney got into a fight on January 5, 2021, at Black Lives Matter Plaza in D.C. The next day, surveillance video showed Denney and another man from Texas trying to pull barricades away from police and later spraying a substance at Capitol Police officers, prosecutors said. Denney said in the video, "That's what happens when you get into that warrior mode."
Denney was later captured on video on the west side of the Capitol, first picking up a long PVC pole that he swung at a D.C. police sergeant, then grabbing a large tube and throwing it at a line of police officers, prosecutors said.
About 30 minutes later, Denney joined the assault on the West Terrace tunnel, leading the mob as it pushed its way into the Capitol, and then swung at D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone as Fanone was being dragged into the mob, the government alleges. Protesters shocked Fanone with a Taser, which caused him to have a heart attack.
Denney wrote on Facebook when he got back to Texas, "It was peaceful. The police even opened up the barricades to let people come closer.” Interviewed by the FBI in February 2021, Denney told agents he didn’t know anyone who had gone to the Capitol that day. The prosecution brief says that when Denney was interviewed again in December, he lied and said he hadn't seen any fights or riots at the Capitol building and couldn't remember hitting or "laying a finger" on anyone.
Denney was arrested and in March pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon. At the first time Denney was sentenced, in July, the D.C. police sergeant who suffered injuries from the PVC pipe choked up as he recounted the bruises from the pipe and the chemical burns from bear spray in his face. He said his body burned for a week after the riot.
"It's clear to me that he doesn't understand what he did that day," said the sergeant, who didn't give his name. "He needs to do a lot of thinking about himself." Denney filed an affidavit with the court that minimized his conduct, said he couldn’t remember certain actions and said the FBI asked him imprecise questions.
Fanone also testified in July. He told Moss, "I was dragged from the front of the police line, pulled into the crowd, and violently beaten and shocked with a stun gun." I was eventually dragged to the police line by demonstrators who intervened on my behalf. It is likely that without the intervention of those demonstrators, I would have lost my life.”
The judge did not impose sentence that day because Denney’s sentencing memo conflicted with the facts offered by prosecutors. But Moss said the officers’ statements would “remain with me not just in sentencing but through my remaining days on earth.”