Fla. man sentenced to 5 years after attacking 6 officers on Jan. 6

[RandySF]

At 6 feet 6 inches and nearly 300 pounds, the force of Kenneth J. Bonawitz launching himself through the air and slamming his forearms into the throats of two police officers standing below him during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot must have been enormous. One officer suffered back injuries such that he was forced to retire in permanent pain.

Bonawitz, 58, wasn’t done. As other officers rushed in, they spotted an eight-inch hunting knife on Bonawitz’s hip and seized it from him. But the police were too overwhelmed to arrest Bonawitz and returned him to the crowd on the Capitol’s West Terrace, where he proceeded to fight with more officers, including putting one officer in a chokehold and lifting her off the ground. He ultimately assaulted six officers before retreating after being hit with chemical spray. Prosecutors called him “one of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters” and said his attacks “were barbaric and left his victims with lasting physical, emotional and psychological injuries.”

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb to sentence Bonawitz, a member of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence, to nearly six years in prison, above the average sentence of slightly less than four years for assaulting police on Jan. 6.

Cobb imposed a sentence of five years, calling Bonawitz’s actions “really inexplicable to me.” She addressed the view held by some that defendants such as Bonawitz are political prisoners. “I don’t care about your political beliefs,” the judge said. “It’s your actions that you’re facing sentencing for.”



https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/17/bonawitz-sentenced-jan6/

[mobeau69]

1. Good.

[Cha]

2. Another Domestic Terrorist Goes Down.

TY

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Why not 5 years for each officer assaulted? And another 5 for insurrection?

[Skittles]

5. agreed

that sentence is far too lenient for someone who caused permanent damage

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. Assuming he survives, the officer will still be in pain when Bonawitz walks free.

This has been a pattern that makes me mad -- insurrectionists receiving lighter sentences than if they had acted alone assaulting police.

[MagickMuffin]

4. Insurrectionist in the flesh

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Kenneth J. Bonawitz sentence is not long enough to me. Solitary confinement so he can’t recruit anyone else to their stupid little proud boys klan

[keithbvadu2]

6. Now, was he an Antifa or an FBI plant?

[orthoclad]

7. Imagine: "Very large lethally-armed Black man attacks police"

for a headline. Now also imagine this happening during a human rights demonstration.

At least he wasn't holding a cell phone.

Comments:
He was no angel
He looked demonic
I feared for my life

Police gang, er, union states that cops acted within their training, and gives condolences to the family.



The Capitol Police were well-restrained in not opening fire. A heavy exchange would have resulted. Maybe that "quick reaction force" with a motel full of guns across the Potomac would have arrived.

But these modern Confederates, with a few exceptions, got off very lightly - with their lives. There are Black people who got sentences like this for thinking they were eligible to vote.

[uponit7771]

9. THIS👆🏿👆🏿👆🏿!!! I would've been shot instantly, this guy gets five years

[orthoclad]

10. And there have been at least 2 cases

of Black women getting 5-yr terms for trying to vote because they thought they were eligible. The R gov of VA's son tried TWICE to knowingly vote illegally; nothing happened to him.

Dem admins have treated Reich-wing terror with kid gloves, I think due to two main reasons:
-the deaths at Ruby Ridge and Waco
-the holy hell that House rethugs raised during Obama, when the DOJ talked about the threat of Reich-wing terror.

Caving in just encourages them. There's a straight line from the Bundy ranch to Malheur to J6. No wonder they thought they could get away with overthrowing the govt. They even let film crews document them for posterity.