Nazi-loving Jan. 6 rioter gets four years; no jail for defendant who testified to select committee

Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a former U.S. Army reservist with an affinity for dressing up like Adolph Hitler and spewing white supremacist rhetoric, was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday. He will also serve three years of supervised release. 

The sentence was doled out by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C. According to NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly, at the hearing Thursday, the Jan. 6 defendant from New Jersey told the court that he had “disgraced his uniform and I disgraced my country.” 

At trial, Hale-Cusanelli insisted he was innocent of all charges, and when he took to the stand, he told jurors that while it may “sound idiotic,” he did not know on Jan. 6 that Congress met inside the U.S. Capitol. 

“But I’m from New Jersey,” he quipped. 

That didn’t earn him much sympathy. Jurors found Hale-Cusanelli guilty in May of felony obstruction of an official proceeding on Jan. 6, plus entering a restricted building, disruptive conduct in a restricted building, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. Prosecutors initially sought a sentence of 6.5 years. 

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