Washington – The pro-Trump rioter who walked the halls of Congress during Carrying a Confederate flag On January 6, 2021, he will face a federal judge to find out his sentencing Thursday, more than two years after one of the most widely acknowledged images of the attack on the Capitol surfaced.
Kevin Seyfried, 53, was Convicted in June 2022 After Judge Trevor McFadden of the US District Court for the District of Columbia found he had illegally entered the Capitol, he walked through the halls outside the Senate chamber.
The Delaware resident was convicted of multiple charges, including obstruction of Congress, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct, and unlawful display. His son, Hunter, was also convicted of aggravated obstruction, but acquitted of other charges including destruction of government property. Hunter was sentenced last year to two years in prison.
Prosecutors have asked McFadden to serve a 70-month prison sentence, or approximately six years.
The Seyfrieds traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a “Stop the Steal” rally organized by then US President Donald Trump near the White House on January 6. Prosecutors said they were among the first protesters to break through the Capitol and enter through a broken window, staying inside for 25 minutes. Kevin Seyfried was photographed shortly thereafter carrying a Confederate flag. According to court documents, he said he brought the flag from his home in Delaware, where it is usually hung outside.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Evidence presented at Seyfried’s trial showed that he confronted U.S. Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman near the Senate floor.
Goodman, who testified during the trial last year, said he was inside the Capitol Rotunda during the attack when a group including Seyfried shouted, “Where are the members?” They threatened Goodman, quipping, “What are you going to do, shoot us?”
Since then, Goodman has been recognized for leading the mob away from the Senate chambers and towards an area of the building where there was a greater law enforcement presence.
The officer described Seyfried as angry—”the complete opposite of happy”—and said he used a Confederate flag to stab him.
In court documents filed prior to sentencing, prosecutors urged the court to impose the harsh prison sentence, arguing that Seyfried “stood firm with the rioters, who demanded to know the whereabouts of the U.S. Senators and Representatives who met to certify the votes of the Electoral College.”
“During their confrontation, Seyfried pushed the butt of the flagpole on Officer Goodman,” prosecutors wrote. “This flagpole was not merely a weapon capable of causing grievous injury; Battle’s Confederate flag was affixed to it and waved by a man standing at the front of a growing, agitated crowd toward a lonely black police officer.”
Seyfried’s public defenders wrote that their client expresses “immediate and unwavering” remorse for his actions during the Capitol breach, explaining that he brought the Confederate flag to protest and not to express any form of racism.
“He is ashamed, realizing that society, and even history, may view him as a racist. He knows he must be punished for his role in the events of that infamous day,” the defense team argued in court documents before Thursday. he heard.
Despite knowing he had entered the Capitol that day, Seyfried’s attorneys wrote that the defendant—a construction worker—had not intended to obstruct the work of Congress, but to make his views known at the behest of the former president.
They argued that “the crowds around the Seyfrieds were shouting that the president would meet them at the Capitol,” highlighting the fact that Trump told his supporters he was going to march with them to the Capitol. “The repercussions of heeding Mr. Trump’s plea have been devastating: Mr. Seyfried’s wife has left him, he is headed to prison and will be destitute when he is released. Worst of all, his beloved son is in prison.”
“He can only be afraid to trust a politician again,” his lawyers wrote.
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