On Wednesday, a court in Washington, United States, sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison a man who had participated in the assault on the United States Congress, carried out on January 6, 2021 by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump with the intent to stop the process of certifying the presidential election won by Joe Biden. The man, Daniel Rodriguez, 40, was accused among other things of having attacked a police officer very violently with a taser, an electric pulse gun, causing him a heart attack and leaving him unconscious.
Rodriguez’s sentence, which will also have to compensate the policeman with $96,000 in medical expenses, was one of the most severe so far in the Justice Department’s investigation into the attack on the Capitol. Over 1,000 people have been indicted to date, nearly 500 of whom have been sentenced. The toughest was the one given to Stewart Rhodes, leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, sentenced to 18 years in prison last May 25th.