A man who stormed the U.S. Capitol and smashed glass panels on a door — moments before a police officer fatally shot another rioter climbing through the opening — was sentenced on Thursday to eight years in prison.
Zachary Alam was one of the first rioters sentenced since this week's electoral victory by President-elect Donald Trump, who has repeatedly vowed to pardon and free supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Before learning his sentence, Alam said he and all other Jan. 6 rioters should get what he called a “pardon of patriotism.” He told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that he doesn't want a "second-class pardon."
“I want a full pardon with all the benefits that come with it,” Alam added.
The judge didn't respond to Alam's remarks about a pardon. She described him as one of the most violent and aggressive rioters as she described his “full-throttled attack" on democratic institutions.
“Those are not the actions of a patriot. To say otherwise is delusional," Friedrich said.
Congressional members and staffers were hiding in the House chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege when Alam used a helmet to breach the barricaded Speaker’s Lobby door panels. Ashli Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot and killed by an officer as she tried to climb through the shattered glass.
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A jury convicted Alam last year of 10 counts, including a felony charge that he obstructed the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Alam conceded that he broke the law on Jan. 6.
“But I believe in my heart that I was doing the right thing,” he added. “Sometimes you have to break the rules to do what's right.”
Prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of 11 years and four months for Alam, who graduated from the University of Virginia before dropping out of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine.
“Footage of Alam exhorting the mob to attack members of Congress before they escaped and then punching out the windows of the barricade protecting them was streamed to viewers around the world and made him immediately infamous,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Defense attorney Steven Metcalf described Alam as a troubled loner who “just wanted to fit in somewhere because he has been rejected by everyone else in his life.” Metcalf, who sought a prison term of four years and nine months for Alam, said the government’s sentencing recommendation was excessive.
“In defending this case, Alam has become a notorious public figure and at the center of controversy in certain circles,” Metcalf wrote. “His controversy is not based on his actions that day, but rather, because he was a main witness to the government taking the life of (Babbitt).”
Alam attended then-President Donald Trump's “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House before joining the mob that attacked the Capitol. He helped other rioters scale barriers outside the Capitol before entering the building through a broken window.
On his journey through the Capitol, Alam screamed obscenities at police, hugged other rioters, tried to kick in a hallway door and threw a red velvet rope at officers from a balcony. He joined other rioters in trying to breach doors leading to the House chamber, but the entrances were barricaded with furniture and guarded by police.
Pushing past officers, Alam punched and shattered three window panes on the doors of the Speaker’s Lobby. Another rioter handed him a helmet, which he used to smash the door and glass panes.
Other rioters yelled that police officers behind the door had drawn their guns, but Alam continued to smash the last glass pane. An officer shot and killed Babbitt, who was unarmed, as she tried to climb through the broken window.
The Capitol police officer who shot Babbitt was cleared of any wrongdoing. That hasn't stopped many Capitol riot apologists, including Trump, from portraying Babbit as a martyr.
Over 1,500 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. More than 1,000 convicted rioters have been sentenced, with over 650 receiving prison time ranging from a few days to 22 years.
