Associate Press
A man who used a stolen riot shield to crush a police officer in a doorframe during the U.S. Capitol insurrection was sentenced on Friday to more than seven years in prison for his role in one of the most violent episodes of the Jan. 6 attack.
Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Patrick McCaughey III, which would have been the longest sentence for a Capitol riot case by more than five years.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced McCaughey to seven years and six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. The judge described McCaughey, 25, as a “poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling about” the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
“Your actions are some of the most egregious crimes that were committed on that dark day,” the judge told McCaughey.
McCaughey was indicted on January 29th, 2021, but that initial indictment was superseded four times over the six months that followed.
On Tuesday September 13th, 2022 he was convicted at a bench trial by U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden of all nine charges against him, seven of which were felonies.
CNN
Patrick McCaughey III, 25, was found guilty on nine charges during a bench trial in September 2022, including seven felony charges. One of the felony charges was for assaulting Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges with a dangerous weapon.
“Your actions on January 6 were some of the most egregious crimes that were committed that day,” District Judge Trevor McFadden said during sentencing.
According to court documents, McCaughey was one of several rioters involved in the assault of Hodges. While in the tunnel of the lower west terrace of the Capitol, McCaughey pinned Hodges to a door with a clear police shield while another rioter ripped Hodges’ gas mask off.
“Your actions left him completely defenseless,” McFadden said. “He had to retreat, but you didn’t retreat.”
The lower west terrace entrance saw some of the worst fighting of the day...
Department of Justice
According to the government’s evidence, on Jan. 6, 2021, McCaughey, Stevens, and Mehaffie all traveled to Washington, D.C. from their respective homes. Each illegally made his way on to the restricted grounds of the U.S. Capitol. McCaughey and Stevens taunted officers at the West Front, and Mehaffie yelled at nearby rioters who were hesitating to illegally cross the outer perimeter, “if we can’t fight over this wall, we can’t win this battle!”
The three defendants ultimately broke through the police line after approximately 2:30 p.m., when the line on the West Front failed under the siege of the advancing mob. Each of the defendants scaled the Southwest scaffolding and staircase, to converge together at the tunnel created by the inaugural platform structure on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building.
At the Lower West Terrace, officers of the U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department guarded the entrance door to the Capitol from the mob -- including McCaughey, Stevens and Mehaffie -- for several hours. Between 2:41 p.m. and 3:19 p.m., the three defendants attempted to break into the building by directing other rioters, participating in heave-hos against the police line, using riot shields stolen from the Capitol Police, and assaulting three specific officers. Mehaffie hung from an archway and shouted direction from above, and McCaughey and Stevens were key players in the melee below. McCaughey grabbed a riot shield and used it as a weapon. Even after officers finally cleared the tunnel area, the three defendants illegally remained on Capitol grounds.
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McCaughey was found guilty of a total of nine offenses. They include seven felony charges: three counts of aiding or abetting or assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, including one involving a dangerous weapon; one count of obstruction of an official proceeding; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. The two misdemeanor charges include: disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building and committing an act of violence in the Capitol Building or grounds.
McCaughey co-defendants Tristan Stevens and David Mehaffie received 60 and 14 month prison sentences respectively...
McCaughey attempted to smash DCMP Officer Daniel Hodge’s skull in a door...
Politico
“McCaughey taunted police officers at the West Front bike racks and joined the mob that threw its weight against the beleaguered line of officers guarding the Capitol,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall wrote in the 45-page sentencing memo. “McCaughey used a deadly and dangerous weapon against Officer Hodges, where he spent over two minutes using his body weight to crush the officer in the doorframe.”
McCaughey’s restraint of D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a Capitol doorway is one of the most recognizable and horrifying images of the violence that day. McCaughey’s restraint of Hodges lasted more than two minutes while other rioters disarmed the officer, removed his gas mask and ignored his screams or help. Images of McCaughey face-to-face with Hodges became a symbol of the brutality of the Jan. 6 riot. It occurred in the Capitol’s lower west terrace tunnel, where many of the most violent confrontations that day took place.
“The defendant’s actions on January 6 show an absolute disregard for the rule of law coupled with a willingness to incite and engage in violence,” Paschall wrote. “The nature and circumstances of this defendant’s crimes weigh heavily towards a significant term of incarceration.”
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Prosecutors say McCaughey, like Webster, was dishonest when he testified in his own trial last year. In addition to his lack of candor on the stand, prosecutors say McCaughey’s recommended sentence was influenced by the brutality of his attack against Hodges and a second officer, Henry Foulds — who McCaughey struck with a riot shield as the officer tried to close the doors to the tunnel.
NBC News
McCaughey was convicted on every count he faced, although the judge did not find that he had used a police shield as a deadly or dangerous weapon during one of the assaults he was convicted of. Federal prosecutors requested that McCaughey be taken into custody after his conviction, and he was led away in handcuffs.
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MPD Officer Daniel Hodges, who was crushed in a door during the Jan. 6 attack, testified for the prosecution about how he was pinned by a police shield being held by defendant McCaughey.
“It, combined with everything else that was going on, made it difficult to breathe,” Hodges testified. “Being crushed by the shield and the people behind it … leaving me defenseless, injured.”
“There is no good way to fight back against it,” Hodges said. “You have to endure the pressure that it creates.”
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Judge McFadden said Tuesday that he relied mostly on video in the case, saying that the officers who testified in the trial added "little" to what the video showed. McFadden — a former police officer himself — critiqued officers Hodges and Gonell, saying the two acted more as victims and less as witnesses when they testified on the stand, although he praised them for their actions on Jan. 6.
The following video comes with a graphic violence warning….
90 months doesn’t seem nearly long enough...
CT Insider
A video from the riot posted to YouTube shows Hodges screaming in pain as his gas mask is ripped off, exposing his bloodied mouth.
Hodges testified before the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that he feared being dragged out and "lynched" by the mob.
"My arms were pinned and effectively useless, trapped between either the shield on my left or the door frame on my right with my posture granting me no function strength or freedom of movement, I was effectively defenseless and gradually sustaining injury from the increasing pressure of the mob," Hodges told the Jan. 6 committee.
While pinned, another rioter grabbed his gas mask "and used it to beat my head against the door," Hodges said. He was crushed further as the crowd began a "heave-ho" motion against the line of law enforcement officers trying to hold the entrance to the Capitol, according to Hodges and government court filings. A rioter also stole his baton and used it to beat Hodges, the video shows.
Hodges testified during McCaughey’s trial and the judge watched the YouTube video focusing on the officer’s injuries, Urso said.
The FBI continues to seek the public’s assistance in identifying individuals who participated in unlawful conduct during the Capitol Insurrection. New images are added frequently...
If you have information about individuals who participated in the largest assault on police officers in U.S. history at the Capitol Riot on January 6th, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or leave a tip online at the FBI’s website.
If you just can’t get enough information about the terrorists who tried to usurp our democracy, then these links are for you…
Department of Justice Capitol Breach Cases
FBI US Capitol Violence Most Wanted
Insider Searchable Table
George Washington University Spreadsheet — Updated Daily
NPR — Updated Database
seditiontracker.com
ProPublica Capitol Riot videos lifted from Parler
KUMU — Capitol Riot Insurrectionist Networks
Just Security — January 6th Clearinghouse
The Trace — Capitol Riot Gun Arrests
USA Today January 6 Capitol Riot Arrests
Sedition Hunters - Sedition Insiders Photo Gallery
Politico January 6 Insurrection Sentencing Tracker