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Patrick McCaughey: Capitol rioter who crushed cop with stolen shield sentenced to over 7 years in prison

During the trial, Patrick Edward McCaughey III expressed shame for joining the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters

WASHINGTON, DC: An US Capitol rioter was sentenced on Friday, April 14, to more than seven years in prison for crushing a police officer in a doorframe with a stolen riot shield in one of the most violent episodes of January 6, 2021, attack. Federal prosecutors suggested a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Patrick Edward McCaughey III, which would have been the longest sentence for a Capitol riot case by more than five years.

However, he was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release by US District Judge Trevor McFadden. The judge described McCaughey, 25, as a “poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling about” January 6, 2021, riot. “Your actions are some of the most egregious crimes that were committed on that dark day,” the judge told McCaughey according to New York Post. 

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McCaughey apologized for joining the mob 

McCaughey, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, expressed shame for joining the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters who “violated” the Capitol. “I’m sorry that I conducted myself less like a citizen and more like an animal that day,” he said. His 90-month sentence matches the second-longest prison sentence so far for a Capitol riot defendant.

The sentence is similar to the one that another judge handed down to Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone into a crowd of rioters. A Finksburg, Maryland, man also pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting an Associated Press photographer and police officers in separate attacks outside the Capitol on January 6. Rodney Milstreed is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20.

Milstreed, 56, was told by Chief Judge James Boasberg that the estimated sentencing guidelines for his case recommend a term of imprisonment ranging from five years and three months to six years and six months. The judge in McCaughey’s case convicted him of nine counts, including felony assault charges, after hearing trial testimony without a jury in September.

MPD Officer Daniel Hodges testified at McCaughey’s trial

McCaughey and 8 other people were charged together with joining one of the most brutal clashes at the Capitol on January 6. Police and rioters were fighting for control of a tunnel entrance on the Lower West Terrace when MPD Officer Daniel Hodges came face to face with McCaughey, who used a stolen riot shield to pin Hodges to a metal doorframe. Hodges testified at McCaughey’s trial and spoke at his sentencing hearing. 

“I do not foresee that changing anytime soon,” he told the judge, describing McCaughey as a “foot soldier” who was at “the vanguard of the assault.” Hodges reportedly screamed for help when another rioter grabbed the officer’s baton and struck him in the face with it. “It was only then, over two minutes after the assault began, that McCaughey relented and pulled Officer Hodges’s face shield down over his eyes,” Assistant US Attorney Kimberly Paschall wrote in a court filing.

Hodges managed to get back inside the Capitol building and was taken to a hospital. McCaughey attacked a second officer with the shield before another officer sprayed him with a chemical irritant, backing him away. “It is not an exaggeration to state the actions of these officers in thwarting the mob at the Lower West Terrace entrance potentially saved the lives of others, including members of Congress,” Paschall wrote. The judge sentenced four of McCaughey’s co-defendants to terms of imprisonment ranging from 14 months to five years earlier this year. Paschall argued that McCaughey’s conduct was more “egregious and protracted” than the others."

McCaughey’s attorneys requested a sentence of one year 

McCaughey’s attorneys requested a sentence of one year behind bars. They claimed McCaughey’s “reprehensible” actions were motivated by his “misunderstanding” about the 2020 presidential election. “There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the ‘great lie’ that Trump won the election, Donald Trump being among the most prominent. Mr. McCaughey is not one of these individuals; he knows he was wrong,” his lawyers wrote. 

McCaughey, a carpenter employed by his father’s construction company, drove about 300 miles from his Connecticut home to Washington, DC, to attend Trump’s 'Stop the Steal' rally on January 6. He went to the Capitol and joined other rioters after listening to speeches to confront police officers guarding the West Plaza.