January 6 rioter who attacked police sentenced to one year in prison for weekends

A Jan. 6 rioter convicted of assaulting police with a deadly weapon has been sentenced to spend his weekends in prison for a year, one of the lightest sentences ever handed down to a rioter convicted of attacking law enforcement.

Paul Russell Johnson, 38, of Lanexa, Virginia, was one of five men who grabbed bike racks used as barricades by U.S. Capitol Police, lifted them into the air and smashed them into several officers, clearing a path from the Peace Circle to the Capitol for the thousands of Donald Trump supporters marching from the Ellipsis. The five men did not know each other, but they were tried together before U.S. District Judge Jia M. Cobb in October and November, with Cobb finding them guilty of civil disorder and assault with a deadly weapon — the bike racks.

Videos showed Johnson using a megaphone to recruit men to help him attack police. After lifting the bike racks, Johnson encouraged the mob to march toward the Capitol, where he and his co-defendants marched, some causing more damage than others.

Federal sentencing guidelines called for a minimum sentence of five years for Johnson, and prosecutors asked Cobb to give him a nine-year sentence. But Johnson’s wife has an undisclosed illness and they have three children, which Cobb noted as she deviated from sentencing guidelines and told Johnson he could report to jail at 5 p.m. on Saturday and leave Monday morning. After the first year, Cobb ordered Johnson to spend two years in home confinement, all as part of a five-year probation sentence.

Cobb then sentenced the next defendant, Steven C. Randolph, 35, of Harrodsburg, Ky., to eight years in prison, one of the harshest sentences handed down to a Jan. 6 defendant for assaulting an officer. Cobb said Randolph picked up the bike rack and pushed it toward Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards, who suffered head injuries and persistent migraines. “She could have been killed,” the judge said. Then, with Edwards on the ground, Randolph attacked another officer, the video shows.

“The nature of these offenses is as serious as it gets,” Cobb said. Prosecutors had sought an 11-year sentence for Randolph, but Cobb gave him eight years. Among defendants convicted Jan. 6 of assaulting police, the eight-year sentence is one of the 10 longest, according to a Washington Post database.

Two other defendants were also sentenced Thursday, while the fifth, Ryan Samsel, who was identified days after Jan. 6 and has been in jail since, had his hearing postponed due to medical issues. He is being held in a Brooklyn jail, his attorney said Thursday.

Judge Cobb sentenced James T. Grant, 32, of Cary, North Carolina, to three years in prison and Jason B. Blythe, 29, of Fort Worth, to two and a half years in prison. All five defendants were convicted of civil disorder and assaulting police, although Judge Cobb acquitted some of the defendants on some counts.

“The significance of the Peace Circle breach cannot be overstated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Mirabelli. “These defendants played a major role in the initial breach and the attack on the police officers. Hundreds of people followed them to the West Front” of the Capitol. “That’s what sparked the riot.”

Prosecutors said in a sentencing memo that “Johnson played a particularly significant role in the unprecedented events of January 6” by shouting at the crowd through his megaphone at 1 p.m., while Trump was still speaking at the “Stop the Steal” rally. Johnson mocked the men for not joining the front lines, which Blythe said was the encouragement he needed to enter the fray.

After the five men lifted the bike racks and threw Edwards to the ground, where she briefly lost consciousness, “Johnson immediately went to work destroying that fence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Hutton Marshall said. “He’s thinking tactically about how he can move the crowd forward, how he can facilitate more people.”

But Johnson’s sentencing record cited his wife’s illness and an unspecified condition in one of his children. Johnson wept as he told the judge: “I humbly ask you to show mercy for an 11-year-old child. I’m sorry for all of this.”

Cobb said she was concerned that Johnson was inciting others to do so. “I understand that Mr. Johnson’s conduct was serious,” the judge said. “Part of my obligation is to consider all relevant factors.”

She then imposed a weekend jail sentence, followed by home detention. “I felt it would be too punitive,” Cobb said, “to incarcerate him in any meaningful way, given his wife’s medical issues, family issues and the custody situation. … I felt I could impose a sentence without ruining a family’s life.”

The judge imposed a $25,000 fine, and Johnson left the courtroom. Blythe and Randolph were remanded in custody, and Grant was already in jail for a weapons arrest when he was released on bail.