Taylor James Johnatakis was ordered to spend 87 months in prison and pay $2,000 in restitution for his role in the Jan. 6 riots. (Photos from court documents)
A megaphone-toting Jan. 6 rioter who boasted on social media, ‘What the British did to DC will be nothing,” a day before leading an attack on U.S. Capitol police on Jan. 6 was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.
Taylor James Johnatakis, 40, of Kingston, Washington, was ordered to spend 87 months in prison and pay $2,000 in restitution. He was convicted in November of misdemeanor offenses, including trespassing, disorderly conduct offenses and engaging in an act of physical violence. He was also convicted of felonies, including obstruction, civil disorder, and assaulting and resisting officers. NBC News reported he had represented himself during trial and the judge didn’t buy his “bulls—” and “gobbledygook.”
In his sentencing notes, Senior U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, highlighted the more than 20 letters from Johnatakis’ friends and family praising his “good works, good nature, and good character.” But, in explaining his sentence, the judge said what Johnatakis did that day was neither First Amendment-protected activity nor civil disobedience.
“A society in which everyone does what is right by his own lights, where adherence to the law is optional, would be a society of vigilantism, lawlessness, and anarchy,” he wrote. “A person dissatisfied with the government or the law has various non-violent ways to express his or her views.”
“As the Court has said before, ‘the First Amendment does not give anyone the right to enter a restricted area or to engage in riotous activity in the Capitol,” he said. “It obviously does not give anyone the right to assault the police. Nor was the January 6 riot an act of civil disobedience, because it was violent, not peaceful; opportunistic, not principled; coercive, not persuasive; and selfish, not patriotic.”
“In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers,” the judge added. “Mr. Johnatakis was a leader.”
A defense attorney listed for Johnatakis in the court docket did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
Johnatakis posted on social media his plans to obstruct the election certification that day as throngs of former President Donald Trump supporters converged on the Capitol for his “Stop the Steal” rally, authorities said in a news release.
“[A]nd that’s why I am going to DC, to CHANGE the course of HISTORY #stopthesteal,” he wrote on Jan. 5, 2021.
He also posted that day: “[B]urn the city down. What the British did to DC will be nothing.”
As he marched from the rally to the Capitol building that day, Johnatakis posted a video with his commentary, saying “Anyways, we’re walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don’t know, maybe we’ll break down the doors.”
At one point, Johnatakis led the charge under scaffolding and upstairs toward retreating police toward the Capitol building.
“Pack it in! Pack it in!” he yelled through his megaphone to fellow rioters at the top of the stairs. He commanded to push the bike rack barricades “one foot” at a time.
“One, two, three, GO!!” he said.
He and others grabbed the metal bike racks and pushed them into the line of officers, injuring at least one officer.
The FBI caught up to Johnatakis after posting “be on the lookout” information for him online, arresting him in his home state on Feb. 11, 2021.
In the 38 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,358 people have been charged with crimes related to the breach, including more than 486 people for the felony charge of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, authorities said.
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