A federal judge in Washington on Tuesday sentenced a Middle Georgia man to five years in prison for assaulting police with a deadly weapon during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
The sentence, which also includes three years of probation, is the longest handed down to any Georgian charged during the riot.
The sentencing follows a two-day trial in August where U.S. Senior District Judge Reggie B. Walton found Michael Bradley, a 50-year-old mechanic from Forsyth, guilty of civil disorder, assaulting police with a dangerous weapon — both felonies — and several misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of eight years and four months based, in part, on the fact that Bradley swung a metal baton, apparently taken from a Capitol Police officer, at a line of police officers when he joined a group of rioters fighting in an entry tunnel on the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace. Walton instead sided with Bradley’s defense lawyer, who wrote in a sentencing memo that five years was an appropriate sentence, given the charge and Bradley’s prior history of arrests.
The riot followed a grievance-laden address by then-President Donald Trump at the Ellipse in which he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol where Congress prepared to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Last month, Paul Enzinna, Bradley’s court-appointed attorney, tried to get the sentencing delayed until after Trump returns to the White House, after which, the lawyer wrote, “it is likely, if not certain, that (Department of Justice) policy toward January 6 prosecutions will change markedly.”
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Enzinna wrote that Trump has called Jan. 6 defendants “‘patriots’ who have been ‘wrongfully imprisoned,’ and he has vowed to pardon them upon his return to office.”
“Thus, even if DOJ continues its prosecution of January 6 defendants, it is very likely that defendants convicted of charges arising from events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, will be pardoned for those offenses,” he wrote.
The judge was not convinced.
“Speculation about what the future President might do once he takes office cannot trump what the legislature commands a judicial officer must do following a criminal conviction,” wrote Walton, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
In arguing for a lesser sentence, Enzinna emphasized Bradley’s “rough” upbringing that included alleged alcohol abuse by his parents, who divorced when Bradley was 3 years old. According to the filing, Bradley left home at 14 and lived on the streets, abused alcohol and drugs, and was arrested multiple times into his early 30s. Most seriously, Bradley was convicted of trafficking in methamphetamine in 2002 and was imprisoned until 2007.
After prison, Bradley took a series of blue-collar jobs, including plumber and auto mechanic, got married and became “a born again Christian,” Enzinna wrote.
Bradley was among the rioters who engaged in a prolonged, hand-to-hand struggle with police officers at the entry tunnel where some of the most violent fighting took place. Videos used as evidence in his trial showed Bradley swinging a metal baton, although Enzinna said there was no direct evidence that he knew “who was at the end of the baton” when he swung.
Walton dismissed that argument in his verdict, saying there was no evidence to suggest he was trying to hit other rioters instead of police. In a memo filed with the court prior to sentencing, prosecutors wrote that, while they could not establish who Bradley hit with the baton, “it was clear Bradley used his height and weight … to swing his baton down forcefully onto the heads of the police officers on the police line.”
In the memo, prosecutors wrote that Bradley lied to FBI investigators about his role in the riot, falsely claiming he was pushed by other rioters into the fray, when surveillance video showed he worked his way to the front of the line where “he actively joined the ongoing assaults.” Prosecutors also wrote Bradley gave false testimony in court that he had no idea there were police officers in the tunnel and thought he was swinging at other rioters.
So far, 35 defendants with Georgia ties have been criminally charged for taking part in the Jan. 6 riot. Nearly 1,600 people have so far been charged in the long-running investigation. Bradley is among more than 590 defendants charged with assaulting police, according to the DOJ.
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