May 27—Calling him among the most violent participants in the Jan. 6 attack against the U.S. Capitol, federal prosecutors are recommending a long prison sentence for Kyle Fitzsimons of Lebanon, Maine.
Prosecutors are asking for 15-and-a-half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a fine of more than $26,000 and restitution in a sentencing memorandum filed Friday in Washington, D.C., by U.S. Assistant Attorneys Michael Gordon and Douglas Brasher.
In the 46-page memorandum, the attorneys wrote that Fitzsimons was one of the “most violent and aggressive participants” in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the capitol, assaulting at least five police officers and causing a “career-ending and life-altering injury to U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell.”
The recommended prison sentence takes into account Fitzsimons “repeated violence” against law enforcement and his “utter lack of remorse, his efforts to profit from his crime, and the urgent need to deter others from engaging in political violence,” the attorneys wrote.
Fitzsimons, 39, knew Congress planned to convene that day to certify the Electoral College win of then President-elect Joe Biden, which Fitzsimons claimed “would doom the country to a communist take over,” according to the court document. He allegedly tried to recruit others to join him in the attack.
On Jan. 5, 2021, he traveled from his home in Lebanon to Washington. The next day, during the riot, prosecutors say he committed five separate violent assaults against police officers during a brawl at the mouth of the tunnel on the Lower West Terrace. The document states he “proudly celebrated his actions” and urged others to “get in there” and fight with law enforcement.
After a four-day trial, Fitzsimons was convicted of 11 crimes in September. Seven of those were felonies. He has given interviews from a D.C. jail insinuating that he is an innocent victim of a bias prosecution and has fundraised off his crime, according to the sentencing memorandum.