Jan. 6 rioter who used taser on officer sentenced to more than 12 years in prison

A man who used a stun gun on a Washington, D.C., police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to multiple felonies. 

Daniel Rodriguez, whom prosecutors called “one of the most violent defendants” in their Jan. 6 prosecutions, organized with other rioters on Telegram ahead of the attack on the Capitol.

“There will be blood. Welcome to the revolution,” he said in a group chat hours before the riot began.

Rodriguez used a taser on officer Michael Fanone during the attack. Fanone, who has since left the police department and is a CNN contributor, has spoken out about the insurrection and the PTSD and “emotional trauma” he suffered afterward. He experienced a minor heart attack and a traumatic brain injury in the riot.

“I don’t give a shit about Daniel Rodriguez. He ceased to exist to me as a person a long time ago,” Fanone said in court Wednesday. 

“Any compassion or empathy I felt toward those who laid siege to our Capitol, whose actions I felt were at least in part influenced by their leader Donald Trump and his lies, has been eroded — eroded by the attacks directed at me and my family by supporters of Donald Trump and the right-wing media,” he added.

Rodriguez admitted to using a taser on an officer in the same Telegram chat later Jan. 6. He said prior to his sentencing that he was “truly” expecting a civil war and supported the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist militias.

In February, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, obstruction of justice and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors initially sought a 14-year sentence.

Rodriguez’s defense blamed the insurrection on former President Trump, saying that Trump’s rhetoric inspired him to participate in the riot. His lawyers said that Rodriguez idolized Trump, noting that he himself grew up without a father.

“He saw the former president as the father he wished he had,” Rodriguez’s legal team wrote in a memo. “He believed Trump was someone to be admired: a multimillionaire who graduated from Wharton Business School, with his name massively displayed in gold on buildings across the United States.”

Rodriguez was originally identified by internet sleuths who poured over hundreds of hours of publicly available video from the riots. He was arrested in March 2021.

He said he believed Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election being stolen and was radicalized by far-right extremist sites like InfoWars and influencers like Steven Crowder.

The 12.5 year term is one of the longest given to a Jan. 6 defendant. Last month, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the attack. Another man who attacked officers with pepper spray and a chair was given 14 years in prison.