An Oklahoma man pleaded responsible on Thursday to assaulting a police officer in the course of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the U.S. Capitol, the place he additionally allegedly pushed an Related Press photographer over a wall.
Benjamen Scott Burlew, 44, of Miami, Oklahoma, disappeared for a number of months after lacking court docket appearances in Washington, D.C., final 12 months. He was re-arrested on Might 13 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and remained jailed till his responsible plea.
U.S. District Decide Randolph Moss is scheduled to condemn Burlew on Sept. 20. The estimated sentencing tips for Burlew’s case suggest a jail time period starting from 30 to 37 months, in response to his plea settlement. The choose isn’t certain by that advice.
Protection lawyer Robert Jenkins stated Burlew and his household are “trying ahead to placing this complete episode behind them.”
“In the present day, he accepted duty for (his) conduct, acknowledging it was prison in nature,” Jenkins stated after the listening to.
Burlew pleaded responsible to an assault cost, agreeing that he approached a police line behind steel barricades, grabbed a Metropolitan Police Division officer and tried to tug him into the group of rioters.
Burlew additionally was charged with assaulting the AP photographer by grabbing, dragging and finally pushing him over a low stone wall outdoors the Capitol. Different rioters have been charged with assaulting the identical photographer, who was documenting the assault by a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters.
The photographer was carrying a lanyard figuring out him as an AP journalist. One in all his assailants grabbed the lanyard and used it to tug him down stairs.
Greater than 100 law enforcement officials have been injured in the course of the riot. Over 1,400 individuals have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Greater than 800 of them have pleaded responsible. Roughly 200 others have been convicted by a choose or jury after trials.
