- Former Williamson County Sheriff’s Deputy Ronald McAbee was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
- McAbee pleaded guilty to two charges, one of which was assault with serious bodily injury, for dragging one police officer and punching another during the riot.
- “I wish they were here and I could have said I’m sorry,” McAbee said of the officers he assaulted before he was sentenced.
A man employed as a Tennessee sheriff’s deputy who assaulted police officers protecting the Capitol from a mob of Donald Trump supporters was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison.
Ronald Colton McAbee was wearing a bulletproof vest with two patches on it when he stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 — one that read “SHERIFF” and one that read militia. It had the insignia of the Three Percenters movement.
During the scuffle on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, McAbee pulled a police officer from a police line and punched another officer who tried to stop him.
Montana man convicted of two felonies and four misdemeanors in January 6: Capitol breach
McAbee said on January 6 that he did not intend to “incite fear or add to the chaos.” None of the officers who were assaulted by Mr. McAbee attended the sentencing.
“I wish they were here so I could say I’m sorry,” McAbee said before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced her to five years and 10 months in prison.
“I take attacks on law enforcement very seriously, and I suspect you have done so before that day,” the judge told McAbee.
McAbee will receive credit for the two years and seven months he has already served since his arrest.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence for McAbee of 12 years and seven months in prison. Only six defendants in the January 6 riot received longer prison sentences.
Mr. McAbee expressed his condolences to the families of rioters and police officers who died on January 6 and in the days that followed. Minutes before assaulting police officers, he performed CPR on Roseanne Boyland, a Georgia woman who was a member of the mob who died during the riot.
“I feel sorry for all the families who lost someone,” McAbee said.
But the judge noted that McAbee appeared to be proud of the violent “exploitation” of January 6. The day after the riot, McAbee was smiling and holding a newspaper with the headline “Riot” as he posed for a photo with his prosecutor friend. He said.
“Notably, he did not mention anything about Ms. Boyland or trying to help her,” Contreras said.
Riots at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
McAbee pleaded guilty to two charges, including assault with serious bodily injury, but a federal jury found him guilty of five other charges after a trial last year.
McAbee, who was on medical leave from the Williamson County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Office, drove to Washington, D.C., with a friend to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the・Participated in a “steal” rally.
McAbee wore brass knuckle gloves and a shirt emblazoned with the Three Percenters emblem and slogan. “Three Percenters” refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought in the War of Independence against Great Britain.
McAbee watched clashes between rioters and police outside the Capitol before joining the fight near the tunnel leading to the Lower West Terrace entrance. Metropolitan Police Officer Andrew Waite was lying on his back on the ground when McAbee grabbed him by the leg and pulled him away from his fellow officer.
“As other officers attempted to help their fallen colleagues, McAbee interfered with their efforts, taunted them, and punched one of them,” prosecutors said in a court filing. .
McAbee grabbed the officer by the torso and lifted him up, causing him to scream in pain before sliding down the stairs with him. He held the officer down for more than 25 seconds as other rioters attacked him and fired pepper spray into his face.
Defense attorney Benjamin Schiffelbein said McAbee was about to call police when he “nudged” Officer Waite and pointed at Boyland’s body.
“Mr. McAbee put himself in an impossible situation,” Mr. Schiffelbein said in a court filing. “Mr. McAbee put himself in an impossible situation, where a woman lay dying in front of a police officer who did not notice her and tried to help her.” It was just a matter of watching.”
The medical examiner’s office later determined that Boyland died of acute amphetamine intoxication.
After the attack on police, McAbee “asked for friendship and goodwill” from other police officers fighting the mob.
“Can I come in?” he asked, tapping the “Sheriff” patch on his vest. “You can’t go back that way, dude.”
Two men accused of being McAbee were also found guilty of assaulting Officer Waite, whose injuries prevented him from returning to work for several months. Justin Jersey was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. The other man, Clayton Ray Mullins, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
Mr. McAbee previously served as a deputy with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, but retired in November 2020 and was assigned to a sheriff’s office in Tennessee. According to prosecutors, McAbee worked for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office until March 23, 2021.
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More than 1,300 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. More than 800 of them have been sentenced, with about two-thirds receiving sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years.
