Left to right: Daniel Page Adams, Cody Page Carter Connell (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
Two cousins learned their fates for fighting with police guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and leading the first round of rioters into the building that day.
Daniel Page Adams, 45, of Texas, and Cody Page Carter Connell, 30, of Louisiana, were each sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman to 26 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release.
Adams and Connell were convicted in July 2023 of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting officers, and four trespassing and disorderly conduct misdemeanors after a stipulated bench trial before Friedman, a Bill Clinton appointee. Although sentencing was originally scheduled for November 2023, it was delayed as the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether the obstruction of an official proceeding charge could be used in Jan. 6 cases; when the justices ultimately decided in June that it did not, the obstruction charge was removed from Adams’ and Connell’s case — and from consideration for sentencing.
Prior to joining the insurrection effort, the two men attended Donald Trump‘s “Stop the Steal” rally. They then made their way to the front of the mob at the Capitol building.
“Let’s go. Are you ready to push? You ready to push?” Adams said to fellow rioters at one point when officers blocked the group.
On Adams’ signal, the crowd began to push against the officers.
“Hey, you’re not even a f—ing American!” Adams shouted at the officers.
When a rioter sprayed mace, striking an officer, Adams yelled to the crowd, “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” and pushed into the outnumbered officers who retreated as the mob followed close behind.
“C’mon! Let’s go! C’mon!” Adams shouted to rioters as he ran up a staircase with the crowd following.
A strike to the head with a police baton didn’t slow him down, officials said. Bloodied but unbowed, he continued his charge up the stairs and into a courtyard. He filmed himself — blood streaming down his head — as he narrated and watched other rioters kick and shatter the windows on both sides of the Senate Wing Door.
“This is my house!” he shouted in the video as the first rioters entered the building through shattered windows, according to court documents. He and his cousin quickly followed the others inside and then exited the building at 2:16 p.m. and 2:17 p.m.
Like many other Jan. 6 defendants, they bragged about their actions that day on social media.
“Just to get things straight,” Adams wrote. “It wasn’t ANTIFA or BLM. It was pissed off American patriots,” and “Me and my cousin led the charge. We were the first ones in[.] Don’t show anyone this picture. […] We were the ones who broke through the last barricade.”
Connell also promoted his activities, writing, “We were the first ones to breach the Capitol today. We got his (sic) with tear gas rubber bullets and batons. You damn right we got their attention. That was the whole point of what we did today. And today was just the start of something much bigger.”
They were then arrested on Jan. 16, 2021.
In their sentencing memo seeking an upward departure of 51 months for both men, prosecutors wrote that the defendants led the charge of rioters into a key area of the Capitol that day and were violent.
“They opened the Northwest Steps by assaulting five vastly outnumbered officers until they retreated,” prosecutors wrote. “They were two of the first rioters to enter the Capitol Building, with Connell personally opening the Senate Wing doors to the Capitol for the flow of rioters while Adams cheered on. As they watched hundreds of other rioters pour into the seat of government in an effort to halt the transfer of presidential power, Connell and Adams knew the role that they had played. Connell also presented a danger moving forward as he planned to return to D.C. with firearms and body armor on Inauguration Day, and he was not going home unless it was in a ‘body bag.’”
In Connell’s sentencing memo seeking a short custodial sentence and 36 months of supervised release, his lawyer said Connell went to Washington, D.C., after Trump told his followers the election was stolen and to go to the Capitol to “fight like hell” on his behalf.
“The alarmist and inciteful rhetoric used by President Trump and those around him had the desired effect,” the memo said. “Mr. Connell, along with hundreds of thousands of other Americans, was convinced that the election was being stolen from President Trump and he wanted to answer the President’s call for action.”
In a letter to the court included as part of the sentencing memo, Connell said he was sorry.
“I would like to express great remorse for my actions made on January 6th, 2021 at the United States Capitol,” he wrote. “Among those affected by my decisions include but are not limited to the police officers, who dedicate their lives to protect and serve their citizens. I should not have behaved that way. My decision to go to the Capitol and my actions were impulsive and took place at a time when I was focused on the election and problems I was hearing about how it was handled. In hindsight I did not think enough about how what I was doing was wrong.”
