A 33-year-old man who attacked two police officers with pepper spray during the assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 was sentenced this Friday to almost seven years in prison.
Julian Khater, originally from New Jersey, was convicted by a federal court in the District of Columbia on two counts of assault on a police officer.
One of the two officers who was attacked by Khater, Officer Brian Sicknick, died a day after the assault.
Although a coroner determined at the time that Sicknick’s death was “natural” due to a stroke, the lawyers for his sentimental partner, Sandra Garza, claim in the lawsuit they filed that “all the events of January 6 (… ) played a role in the condition that led to the death” of the police officer.
Khater traveled to Washington D.C. on January 6. with another arrested for those events. Among his belongings were two cans of bear repellent and two cans of pepper spray, according to the Justice Department indictment.
After listening to former President Donald Trump’s speech from the White House that day, the two men walked to the Capitol, where they confronted, along with a mob, police officers trying to stop their entry into the building.
During this confrontation, Khater used pepper spray to attack Sicknick and another police officer in the face, the indictment details.
Both Khater and his partner, George Tanios, pleaded guilty last year to charges in connection with the assault on the Capitol. Khater, sentenced this Friday, has been jailed since March 2021.
Sicknick, who died at the age of 42, has been with the Capitol Police force since 2008.
According to data from the authorities, about 140 agents were attacked by protesters in favor of the now former president, who were armed with axes, bats, hockey sticks, and other weapons.
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the headquarters of Congress, when a joint session of the two chambers was being held to ratify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in last November’s elections.