Jailed Capitol rioter whose son turned him in earns early release at resentencing

WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge shaved off the remainder of a Capitol rioter’s prison term and released him from custody on Friday, after originally sentencing the man to 33 months for clashing with police during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Brian Mock traveled from Minnesota to Washington, where he engaged in four separate assaults against Capitol police officers in the West Plaza in what prosecutors called a “5-minute frenzy.” His eldest son turned him in when he saw his father’s picture on an FBI identification list.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who convicted Mock on 11 counts in July 2023 following a bench trial, scheduled the resentencing to address Mock’s vacated conviction for obstruction of an official proceeding.

After the Supreme Court narrowed that charge last summer, numerous Jan. 6 defendants have been resentenced, with many receiving similar or slightly shorter sentences. Mock appealed the conviction to the D.C. Circuit, which remanded the case on Nov. 20.

Boasberg focused on Mock’s supervision following his pending release after the judge learned that by reimposing the initial sentence — which would have ended as early as April 3 — Mock would have likely spent several months in a space in Baltimore owned by a woman who also attended the Capitol riot.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon described the woman as “closely affiliated with multiple Jan. 6 defendants,” a key reason the U.S. Probation Office denied Mock’s initial pitch to stay in a halfway house she ran in Minnesota, the state where he was being held.

Michelle Peterson, a federal public defender in Washington, argued Friday that staying in Baltimore would have been a temporary solution and was likely the only one available, as she “could not imagine” many left-leaning people who would help Mock.

Mock, attending Friday’s hearing via Zoom from prison in Sandstone, Minnesota, told Boasberg that he was no extremist and suggested he had few friends “on the right” for his stance against “mass pardons” for Jan. 6 defendants.

President-elect Donald Trump has said he would consider certain motions for pardons on a “case-by-case basis,” suggesting that nonviolent defendants would be most likely to receive a pardon.

After passing down the time-served sentence Friday, Boasberg said Mock can choose whether to serve his 2 years of supervised release in Minnesota or in Wisconsin near the Twin Cities area.

Boasberg said he would authorize either choice so Mock would not have to travel to Washington in the next 72 hours, considering likely closures due to an incoming snowstorm, the Jan. 6 election 2024 election certification and the memorial for former President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 9.

At the February sentencing, Boasberg found that Mock had traveled from Minnesota expecting violence at the Capitol. However, the Barack Obama appointee said he did not think Mock came with any intent to overthrow the government.

Mock was convicted on 11 counts, including the now-vacated obstruction of an official proceeding charge, civil disorder, assaulting officers, assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, theft of government property, engaging in violence on Capitol grounds, entering restricted grounds and disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon.

Federal prosecutors say Mock pushed and tried to kick an officer on the ground, threw a broken flagpole at a line of officers and shoved a distracted officer, causing him to fall over a step behind him.

After his frenzy, Mock found a police baton and began “stalk[ing] the West Plaza looking for more trouble,” Gordon said at the February sentencing.

Mock, who represented himself, contested at trial that he had kicked the first officer on the ground, and said he thought the last officer was going for his gun to explain why he shoved him. He did not enter the Capitol itself.

Nearly four years later, approximately 1,572 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol riot, about 600 of whom were charged with assaulting law enforcement officers, including 171 charged with using a dangerous weapon or causing serious injury to an officer. Over 1,068 defendants have been sentenced, 645 to periods of incarceration and 145 to periods of home detention.

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