On Thursday, a guy who broke glass panels on a door after storming the U.S. Capitol just before a police officer shot and killed another rioter who was climbing through the gap was given an eight-year prison sentence.
Following this week’s election triumph, President-elect Donald Trump, who has often pledged to pardon and liberate supporters who invaded the Capitol on January 6, 2021, convicted Zachary Alam as one of the first rioters.
Alam claimed that he and the other Jan. 6 rioters should receive a “pardon of patriotism” prior to hearing his sentencing. He requested a “second-class pardon” from U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich.
“I want a full pardon with all the benefits that come with it,” Alam continued.
Alam’s comments for a pardon were not answered by the judge. She characterized his “full-throttled attack” on democratic institutions, calling him one of the most violent and belligerent protesters.
“Those are not the actions of a patriot. To say otherwise is delusional,” Friedrich stated.
During the siege on January 6, 2021, Alam used a helmet to break through the barricaded Speaker’s Lobby door panels as congressional members and staff were hiding in the House chamber. An officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old San Diego Air Force veteran, as she attempted to crawl through the broken glass.
Last year, Alam was found guilty on ten charges by a jury, including a felony charge of interfering with the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
On January 6, Alam admitted that he had broken the law.
“But I believe in my heart that I was doing the right thing,” he continued. “Sometimes you have to break the rules to do what’s right.”
Alam, who left the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine after graduating from the University of Virginia, was recommended by prosecutors to serve 11 years and four months in jail.
Alam was a disturbed recluse who “just wanted to fit in somewhere because he has been rejected by everyone else in his life,” according to defense lawyer Steven Metcalf.
Metcalf said that the government’s recommended sentence for Alam was too harsh and asked for a four-year, nine-month prison term.
Alam joined the crowd that stormed the Capitol after attending then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” protest outside the White House. Before he entered the Capitol through a shattered window, he assisted other rioters in scaling obstacles outside the building.
Alam attempted to kick down a corridor door, flung a red velvet rope at officers from a balcony, hugged other rioters, and screamed profanities at police as he made his way through the Capitol.
Along with other rioters, he attempted to break through the doors leading to the House chamber, but the entrances were guarded by police and blocked with furniture.
Alam assaulted and broke three window panes on the Speaker’s Lobby doors while pushing past officers. He was given a helmet by another rioter, and he used it to smash the door and panes of glass.
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Alam persisted in smashing the final pane of glass despite shouts from other rioters that the police officers behind the door had drawn their weapons. Babbitt was unarmed when she attempted to climb through the smashed window and was shot and killed by an officer.
Babbitt’s shooter, a Capitol police officer, was found not guilty. Trump and other proponents of the Capitol riots have continued to paint Babbit as a martyr in spite of this.
More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal offenses relating to the Capitol disturbance. Over 650 of the more than 1,000 convicted rioters who received sentences ranged from a few days to 22 years in jail.
