A sort of former state university enterprise owner Jailed on Friday for nearly seven years for beating two police officers during riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Julian E. Khater, who now lives in New Jersey, pleaded guilty in September to reporting to U.S. Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Caroline Edwards Spray with pepper spray. The 34-year-old former owner of the Frutta Bowls in downtown State College, closure In 2020, Pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced Khater to 80 months in prison, commuted to 22 months already served, and fined him $10,000. The sentence, which ranges from six-and-a-half to eight years, is the longest sentence to date for any of the more than 900 people charged in the Capitol attack. Federal prosecutors are asking for 90 months.
Khater traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 with co-defendant George P. Tanios, 42, of West Virginia, who brought two cans of bear spray and two cans of pepper spray. The two attended a rally where former President Donald Trump spoke before heading to the Capitol, where they joined a group of Trump supporters who were trying to disrupt Congress to prove Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
tanios who plead guilty He was sentenced to five months in prison for two misdemeanors.
Khater tells Tanios to “shh-gim that bear,” before reaching into Tanios’ backpack and saying he’s just been sprayed. As the other thugs began to forcibly remove the bike rack barrier, Cartel sprayed a can in Sinick’s face, and Sinick had to turn his head and retreat. Prosecutors said Carter used pepper spray, not bear spray.
Sinek died the next day. Washington, D.C. medical examiner Francisco J. Diaz concluded that Sicknick died of natural causes following multiple strokes and that neither Khater nor Tanios were charged in his death.
However, Diaz said “everything that happened [on January 6] played a role in his condition,” according to Washington post.
Edwards and who were sprayed at the same time testify Speaking to the House Jan. 6 Committee last June, she told the court that Sinick had become “ghost-white” during the attack and that she felt survivor’s guilt after she couldn’t help him because she, too, was temporarily lost. behavioral capacity.
“Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still see his face, white as a sheet,” she said, according to New York Times“I would do anything to alleviate the suffering of the Sicknick family and my colleagues.”
Dozens of U.S. Capitol Police officers attended Friday’s sentencing in federal District Court in Washington, which included testimony from Sicknick’s family.
Brian Sicknick’s mother, Gladys Sicknick, told Khater at sentencing: “You attacked my son like an animal. You are an animal, Mr. Cartel. … What does it feel like to be sent to jail for a blatant lie?” according to NPR.
She also blamed the mob more broadly.
“All of you are responsible for the injuries suffered by Brian’s colleagues – broken bones, head trauma and the ongoing mental anguish they suffered and will endure for the rest of their lives,” she said, according to The Times. The emotional pain that caused someone to take his own life. Four officers committed suicide. You and your ‘movement’ caused their deaths.”
Carter had asked the court to sentence him to serve his full sentence.
“What happened on January 6th — there are no words,” he told Hogan. “It’s unfortunate and I hope I can get it all back.”
Hogan noted that Khater did not apologize to police. Khater said he has not apologized for the ongoing civil case, including a lawsuit brought by Sicknick’s longtime partner, Sandra Garza.
“I found it to be a very self-centered approach,” Hogan told Cartel.
Khater is the second person with ties to the state university to be convicted of a felony in connection with the Jan. 6 riots. Brian Gunderson28, yes found guilty Obstructing congressional votes and beating law enforcement officers in November.