Justice Department recommends 20 years in prison for man convicted of involvement in Capitol riot

The Department of Justice recommended that the Pennsylvania barber, who was sentenced on January 6, 2021, Capitol riot faces 20 years behind bars.

Ryan Samsel was found guilty in February 2024 on several charges, including assaulting federal officers, committing an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds and obstructing an official hearing.

According to court documents, the Justice Department recommended a sentence of 240 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $2,000 in restitution and a fine.

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The Department of Justice has recommended that a Pennsylvania man found guilty of rioting at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, spend 20 years in prison. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

“A sentence of 240 months in prison reflects the seriousness of Samsel’s conduct and provides sufficient deterrence given Samsel’s continued lack of remorse, active and public regurgitation of false narratives, violent criminal history, and interest in repeatedly attacking the Capitol,” the Justice Department wrote in memorandum.

Samsel was the first rioter to breach the restricted perimeter of the Capitol along with other supporters of the now president-elect Donald Trump in an attempt to delay the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, according to the Department of Justice.

He was found guilty of verbally abusing employees, violently pushing and pulling metal barricades, and assaulting an employee who lifted a metal barricade and punched him in the face.

Ryan Samsel, who was convicted of multiple charges for his part in the Jan. 6 riots, was the first person to breach the Capitol perimeter that day, the Justice Department said. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Afterward, police were overwhelmed as “the floodgates opened” and “thousands of rioters poured onto the west front of the US Capitol grounds,” according to a Justice Department document.

“Samsel spent the next hour and a half terrorizing the police on the western front,” the document says. “He attacked the police with his flag, grabbed another officer by the shield, tore down scaffolding, flashed the officers, grabbed a 2×4 board and threw it into the police line, and threw a pole into another police line.”

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Ryan Samsel was found guilty of verbally abusing Capitol staff, violently pushing and pulling metal barricades, and assaulting a staff member by picking up a metal barricade and punching him in the face. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

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“Samsel was proud of his actions that day, taking the time to snap a selfie during the riot and announce with a smile that he had violated the Capitol,” the Justice Department wrote. “Samsel was still proud of his actions years later when he told an interviewer that his actions on Jan. 6 were justified because ‘sometimes civil unrest is necessary.'”