Christopher Joseph Quaglin was sentenced to 12 years in prison for assaulting officers during the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. (Photos from court documents)
A Donald Trump-appointed judge called a man who prosecutors said “waged a relentless siege” on police officers for hours as one of the most violent Jan. 6 rioters “a menace to our society” when he sentenced him to serve 12 years in prison on Friday.
Christopher Joseph Quaglin, 38, lashed out at U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden at a dramatic hearing.
“You’re Trump’s worst mistake of 2016,” Quaglin told McFadden, The Associated Press reported.
“What an outrage. What a disgrace,” McFadden said.
Quaglin was convicted of 12 felonies — including three counts of assault using a deadly or dangerous weapon, three counts of assault, two counts of robbery, civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, engaging in physical violence with a dangerous weapon, and disorderly and disruptive conduct with a dangerous weapon — along with two misdemeanors.
In the government’s sentencing memo, prosecutors recommended that he serve 14 years, three years of supervised release, $2,000 in restitution, pay an $82,000 fine, and a mandatory $1,220 special assessment. They said he viciously assaulted police officers for hours.
Leading up to the insurrection, Quaglin repeatedly called for a “Civil War” and boasted on social media that “the armed patriots would storm the Capitol.” Quaglin said “war is coming” because it’s “[t]ime for the government to understand who the f— they work for.”
“For weeks before traveling to Washington, D.C., Quaglin spoke of the weapons that he intended to bring and repeatedly stated his belief that the country was heading into “WAR!” prosecutors said. “Quaglin announced his intent to participate in the ‘war’ and keep the former president in power at all costs.”
Wearing a helmet and gas mask, he was seen in police body camera footage assaulting cops and shouting at them.
“You don’t want this fight,” he said at one point, according to court documents. “You do not want this f—— fight. You are on the wrong f—— side. You’re going to bring a f—— pistol, I’m going to bring a f—— cannon.”
He pushed, punched, swatted, slapped and even choked an officer to the ground, prosecutors said. He pushed past police guarding the Capitol terrace doors, attacked officers with a riot shield and sprayed officers in the face with mace, including one who was not wearing a shield or gas mask.
“In total, Quaglin was on Capitol grounds — wreaking havoc — for more than three hours,” prosecutors said. “Quaglin, with full knowledge of the Congressional proceeding inside the Capitol and with intent to stop it, waged a relentless siege on police officers for several hours as he tried to gain access to the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of the Electoral College vote.”
Afterward, he bragged online about it, saying he was pepper sprayed and “I’m sure I’m going to make the news.”
“It was wild,” he said. “The president didn’t lie. It was f—–‘ wild.”
Quaglin’s attorney, Kristi S. Fulnecky, said in her sentencing memo that the father, husband, and electrician had been vocal about his treatment in multiple jails, including not being given a proper diet and medical treatment, and about receiving ineffective assistance of counsel from his multiple attorneys.
“Mr. Quaglin has been very vocal about being a political prisoner and how he has been treated differently and charged differently as a conservative than if he had been part of liberal riots, such as with Black Lives Matter, Antifa, current university riots, or other similar riots,” Fulnecky wrote. “Mr. Quaglin has suffered greatly in many jails in America. The prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were treated better than Mr. Quaglin was treated in the D.C. jail and other jails he was transported to.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
