Jan. 6 rioter who maced Capitol Officer Sicknick draws 80-month sentence

Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Jan. 6 rioter Julian Khater, who sprayed the late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and others in the face with mace during the insurrection, has drawn an 80-month jail sentence.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Hogan issued the sentence -- along with a fine of $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution -- Friday in Washington D.C., dismissing Khater's claim that his issues with "crippling anxiety" rendered him less than fully responsible for his actions.

Prosecutors had requested a jail sentence of 90 months.

Khater was convicted in September after pleading guilty to ten counts, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The government alleged that Khater's "first victim" during the riot was Sicknick, who died of multiple strokes hours after the attack. Sicknick, who was guarding the police barricade on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol, was sprayed in the face by Khater at a close distance of approximately 5 to 10 feet, they said.

After recovering his eyesight from the attack, the police line had broken down on the Lower West Terrace and rioters entered the Capitol. He later responded to a call of shots fired on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Sicknick remained on duty at the Capitol until he began slurring his speech and eventually lost consciousness. He was transported to George Washington University Hospital where he remained on life support for nearly 24 hours. He was pronounced dead at 8:51 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2021.

Khater's co-defendant, George Tanios, drew a five-month sentence from Hogan on Friday after pleading guilty to purchasing and carrying the toxic spray used by Khater in the attack.

While Sicknick's death was ruled to have been from natural causes, family members said in victim impact statements it became clear to them he died as a result of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

His mother, Gladys Sicknick, told Khater, "You are at center stage in our recurring nightmare.

"You, among all the other crazies -- you are the reason Brian is dead, Mr. Khater," she wrote.

The rioters who breached the Capitol that day, she wrote, "whether or not they've been charged with crimes... all of you are culpable in Brian's death. All of you bear responsibility for the injuries sustained by Brian's fellow officers -- the broken bones, head trauma, and the continuing mental anguish they suffer -- and will endure -- for the rest of their lives."