A Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol rioter who attacked police officers with pepper spray, including one who died the next day, was sentenced to more than six years in prison Friday.
Julian Khater, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan to serve six years and eight months in prison. His co-defendant, George Tanios, was sentenced Friday to time served over two misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the attack.
Both men were arrested last March for their roles in the attack that left several people dead and hundreds of officers injured. Khater, a Pennsylvania resident, assaulted several officers with pepper spray, including Officer Brian Sicknick, who died a day later after two strokes.
Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press
Khater pleaded guilty last year to assaulting Sicknick and Capitol Police Officer Carline Edwards with pepper spray. Khater was not charged in Sicknick’s death but still faces a civil lawsuit from Sicknick’s fiancée, along with Tanios and former President Donald Trump, for their alleged roles in the officer’s death.
Khater’s sentencing is one of the longest among the nearly 200 convicted U.S. Capitol attackers. A retired New York Police Department officer received the longest sentence when a judge ordered in September that he serve 10 years for his role in the attack.
Sicknick’s mom, Gladys, gave a victim impact statement during Khater’s sentencing Friday, placing blame for her son’s death on Khater, WUSA-TV in Washington reported.
“Did you feel like a tourist, Mr. Khater, watching my son fighting for his life?” she asked.
Hogan noted that in Khater’s statement before sentencing, he did not apologize to the officers he assaulted.
“Your thoughtful statement right now did not really include any apology to the officers you sprayed,” Hogan said, according to WUSA. “I didn’t hear any expression or ‘sorry’ about the employees of the Capitol, many who hid for their lives and resigned and never came back to work.”
