Odin Meacham (U.S. Attorney’s Office).
A Utah farmer and one-time MMA fighter who hit police guarding the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 with wood and metal poles is going to prison.
Odin Meacham, 30, was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison, 24 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced in a press release. Bates found Meacham guilty of civil disorder, assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct and trespassing.
In their sentencing memo asking for 96 months — or eight years — incarceration, prosecutors called Meacham “an agent of chaos” as he repeatedly attacked police officers at the Capitol’s West Plaza.
“Meacham initially attempted to take away a bike rack barricade that police officers had been using for protection,” prosecutors said. “After being pepper sprayed, Meacham picked up a wooden flagpole and struck a police officer on his upper body so hard that the flagpole broke in half. Meacham was then pepper sprayed again. Undeterred, Meacham picked up the broken half of the flagpole and rushed the police line again, striking the bike rack barricade precisely where an officer’s hand had been just seconds earlier.”
After two flagpole strikes, Meacham picked up a metal pole from the ground and threw it at a sergeant, hitting and then taunting him, prosecutors said.
Meacham didn’t stop there. He approached another officer and yelled, “lean in,” to fellow rioters, and then grabbed the officer’s baton and tried to wrestle it away.
He stayed on Capitol grounds later harassing cops, screaming “you f——- pieces of s—,” “you f—— scumbag pieces of s—,” “you are protecting criminals,” and “are you scared motherf—–” and “you traitors,” “you dogs.”
In his sentencing memo asking the court for a sentence of 40 months, Meacham’s public defender, Scott K. Wilson, said his client is deeply remorseful for the 10-minute span of Meacham’s life during which he appeared like someone “who had lost reason.”
“He knows that his decision to cross the line from protest to attack was completely unacceptable, no matter what his political beliefs,” Wilson wrote. “It was a terrible choice for which he has paid and will continue to pay dearly.”
Wilson said Meacham grew up on a family farm with a controlling father who thought his family descended from messianic and masonic lineages and believed in Knights Templar, curses, numerology, conspiracy theories, and black magic, Wilson wrote.
“He preached these beliefs to his children, all undergirded by a healthy mistrust of contemporary American society,” the memo said. “It was a disorienting, often terrifying world view, and the natural isolation of the farm enhanced its power.”
Meacham was arrested on May 15, 2023. In a voluntary interview then, Meacham told FBI agents the purpose of his trip to Washington, D.C., was to “help” former President Donald Trump.
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