Conservative native Brent Bozell IV was sentenced to nearly four years in prison in the Jan. 6 case

WASHINGTON — A man whose relatives were key architects of the American conservative movement was sentenced Friday to three years and nine months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which included breaking windows that allowed the crowd inside. storm in the building during the first breach.

Federal prosecutors have sought more than 11 years in prison and an anti-terrorism sentence for Brent Bozell IV, son of Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell III and nephew of Joe McCarthy speechwriter Brent Bozell Jr., brother of William F. Buckley Jr. – Barry Goldwater’s Conscience of a Conservative Wrote In-Laws and Ghost.

But Judge John Bates on Friday sentenced Bozell IV to 45 months in prison and $4,727 in restitution. Bates found that the plain language of the promotion of terrorism statute would apply in Bozell’s case, saying “it’s a little difficult for me to escape that conclusion.” But Bates disagreed with the enormous impact this would have on Bozell’s conviction and found it uncomfortable to label a man with a leading role in the politically motivated attack on the US Capitol as a domestic terrorist.

“I’m not confident that this label is an appropriate label for the defendant,” Bates said, noting that as Bozell broke windows forcing the crowd into the building, he joined the crowd as these multiple lines of police over- oh, his behavior. was not “significantly violent” and did not cause physical harm to the officers. However, he previously found that Bozell was “bowing his head down toward the officers” and “forcefully” making contact with the officers as a crowd. accused a police line. It also found that Bozell had repeatedly lied to the stand about his behavior.

Bates also took the opportunity to indirectly reject the rhetoric that Republican politicians have used about the Jan. 6 suspects.

“At no time should the January 6 thugs be considered true patriots,” said Bates, a George W. Bush appointee. “They are not political prisoners. They are not hostages.”

The Jan. 6 rioters now face the consequences of their actions based on fair, impartial and even law enforcement, Bates said.

Bozell, with his father on the bench, apologized for his actions in court and said it had forever tarnished his family. “I don’t recognize the person in those videos,” Bozell said, vowing to spend the rest of his life making sure what he did on Jan. 6 is not the story of his life.

But Bozell did not say he now realized he was misled about the 2020 election or that he blamed the former president Donald Trumphis lies for his conduct, as have many defendants since January 6.

When asked by NBC News after his conviction whether he still believes the 2020 election was “stolen,” as Trump falsely claimed in the run-up to the attack, Bozell declined to comment. (In carefully worded language, Bozell’s defense memo says only that Bozell “accepts that the President of the United States is Joe Biden,” which is the same tactic Republican politicians have used to avoid discussing their views in detail regarding the 2020 election.)

On January 6, 2021, Bozell joined the pro-Trump mob when he broke through the police line and broke windows during the initial breach of the Capitol. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with members of the far-right group Proud Boys, as well as an anti-abortion rights lawyer accused of plotting to kill FBI employees working on his case since Jan. 6.

Bozell made his way to the Senate Gallery and then to the Senate floor. He also joined the crowd in another violent breach of the Capitol rotunda doors, allowing other rioters to storm the building.

Prosecutors say Bozell “led the charge” on Jan. 6 because he “believed the presidential election was ‘stolen’ and therefore planned to respond with violence.” They are seeking an enhancement of the terror sentence — the same date for five members of the Proud Boys, four of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy — and say Bozell’s actions “demonstrated a clear intent to defraud Congress.” from certifying election results through the use of both physical force and destruction of property,” conduct that “exemplifies an intent to influence and retaliate against government conduct by intimidation or coercion and that justifies the use of terrorism enhancement; ‘.

Prosecutors also cited Bozell’s comments that “the siege of the Capitol was morally justified” and his references to former Vice President Mike Pence as a “traitor” as evidence of his intent to engage in an act of terrorism internal.

In a court filing this week, prosecutors said they had obtained sentence enhancements for terrorism in a handful of cases since Jan. 6, including against Proud Boys such as Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison, the longest sentence ever. 6 case.

Prosecutors also said Bozell made “outrageous justifications for his behavior on Jan. 6 that were both inconsistent with the video evidence and implausible” during his testimony, leading to his conviction in September on numerous charges, including five felonies.

Bozell was caught with the help of online detectives as well as local residents who recognized him because he was wearing a sweatshirt with the name of the school his children attended in Pennsylvania.

The prosecutor’s sentencing memo notes that Bozell texted his brother in an attempt to get his father to withdraw his public condemnation of the violence after Jan. 6. His attorneys wrote that Bozell was part of a family that was “too personally and emotionally invested.” in the final outcome of the 2020 election” and that Bozell is “ashamed of breaking the windows of the US Capitol and getting inside.”

Bozell’s father wrote a letter of support, saying he had “remained silent for the past 3.5 years” so as not to “upset the apple cart of justice” he now believed in — especially because of the decision to seek an enhanced sentence for terrorism – that “there’s more going on” with his son.

“I am not arguing for my son’s innocence, just that his punishment fits the crime. I ask the Court to consider my son’s character, which is outstanding and supported by absolutely everyone around him,” Bozell III wrote.

Bozell III founded the Parents Television and Media Council in 1995 when his son, now in his mid-40s, was a teenager. The organization focused on shows like “Friends,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Spin City,” along with video games like “Mortal Kombat.” Bozell III said during the 2016 presidential campaign that Donald Trump “might be the biggest charlatan of them all,” but he focused on defending Trump and even wrote a 2019 book titled “Unmasked: Big Media’s War on Trump “.

Bozell’s grandfather was “convicted of attacking a police officer with a five-foot wooden cross” after leading an anti-abortion attack on a Washington, DC clinic in 1970, according to his 1997 obituary in The Washington Post.

On Friday, Bozell’s attorney, Eric Snyder, argued that while Bozell “is many things,” he is not a terrorist.

“Good people do bad things,” Snyder said. “He’s a good person who did something terrible.”

Bozell is “a lucky guy” who “had all these advantages,” Synder said, calling him “lucky.” He said Bozell knew he had “tarnished the name of a good family” and said the Bozells were also known for their other work outside of politics.

Bozell himself addressed the officers present, as well as his family and the judge.

“I can’t apologize enough,” he said, adding that the “devastating reality” of what happened not only affected him but also his family, adding that he wasn’t raised that way.

“I don’t know what happened that day and I can’t apologize enough,” Bozell said, adding that he corrected people he met who said they supported what he did on Jan. 6.

He apologized to the people of DC, noting that he wished he could go door to door and apologize. He said he caused a lot of harassment at his daughter’s school because he wore a school sweater that day, allowing online sleuths to track him down.

Shortly after his son was sentenced, Bozell III took to Platform X to say that while he believed Bates was “a good man,” his son’s conviction was “a complete travesty,” before bringing in discussion the riots that took place in the locations. it was not the US Capitol during the Electoral College count.

“It was political persecution because my son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, is named after his father, and his father is a well-known conservative leader who is supporting President Trump in 2024,” Bozell III wrote. “I love my son and I will be more honest than ever. The criminal investigation into this corrupt Department of Justice is long overdue.”

In the more than three years since the attack on the Capitol, federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,424 defendants and obtained more than 1,019 convictions. Of the 884 suspects convicted, 541 received prison terms ranging from a few days behind bars to Tarrio’s 22-year sentence.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com