The domestic terrorist who repeatedly used a stun gun on DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, possibly causing a heart attack the officer experienced, during the January 6th Republican-led attack on Congress was sentenced to 12.5 years in jail in a plea deal, NBC reports. Prosecutors had sought a 14-year sentence.
DJ Rodriguez ran a Telegram group named “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang” in which he encouraged others to participate in the January 6th attack. In the group in which he would refer to Trump as “Dad” or “Daddy,” Rodriguez posted on the night before the attack, “There will be blood.” He reportedly stole a taser from an officer and used it on Fanone repeatedly while others beat and kicked the officer. The attack was caught on video, with crowdsource investigators labeling Rodriguez “Taser prick” as they worked to identify him. After the attack, Rodriguez posted on the Telegram channel, “Omg I did so much fucking shit RN and got away,” and “Tazzed the fuck out of the blue.”
The sentence appears to be the second-longest handed out to a non-seditious conspirator convicted in connection with the January 6th attack. That dubious honor goes to Peter Schwarz, a 49-year-old Pennsylvania welder with more than three dozen previous convictions who threw chairs and other items at police and then used pepper spray and other chemicals at the police defending the Capitol.