TAMPA (WFLA) – The Department of Justice said last week that a Largo man should serve 63 months in prison for attacking officers during the Jan. 6, Capitol riot in the government’s stiffest punishment sentencing recommendation to date
Robert Scott Palmer pleaded guilty back in October for throwing a wooden plank at the officers and spraying them with a fire extinguisher before throwing it as well, officials said.
According to a DOJ memo, Palmer rooted around for additional materials with which to assault the police, including throwing the fire extinguisher a second time.
The DOJ added that Palmer assaulted another group of law enforcement officers with a 4-5 feet pole. As he threw the pole like a spear at the officers, one of them fired a non-lethal projectile at Palmer, hitting him in the stomach, the document said.
When he got up, Palmer showed off his injury to the crowd, shouting falsely that he had been shot merely for yelling at the police, when in fact he had provoked the injury by his own assault, according to the memo.
Following the attack, Palmer admitted to a reporter that his goal was “to subvert a democratic election and that he hoped for military intervention to overturn the election in order to keep the losing candidate in power.”
While no injuries were reported from this attack, the DOJ said the items were thrown with enough force to be capable of “serious bodily injury.”
Currently, the longest sentence a Capitol rioter has received is 41-months in prison.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 17.
