The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking a 14-year prison term and up to a $181,000 fine for a Florida member of the Proud Boys convicted of assaulting police with pepper gel on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors also recommended three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $181,000, restitution of $2,000, and $610 in mandatory special assessments.
Mr. Worrell was convicted in a May bench trial on all seven charges filed against him, including civil disorder, assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or building, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
‘Taking the Capitol!’
The longest prison term to date in a Jan. 6 case was the 18 years given in May to Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III for his conviction on seditious conspiracy and other counts.The DOJ’s sentencing memorandum extensively documents incendiary things Mr. Worrell said on Jan. 6, in addition to him spraying an entire can of Sabre Red maximum-strength pepper gel toward police on the west plaza.
“Once on Capitol grounds, Worrell spewed vitriol for half an hour at the overwhelmed officers restraining the mob,” the DOJ wrote. “And when he saw an opportunity to pepper spray the police line from deep within the crowd, Worrell took it.”
Mr. Worrell and other Proud Boys “played a pivotal role in collapsing the police line on the west front, leading to the first breach of the Capitol Building,” the sentencing memo said. When the police line guarding the northwest steps collapsed, Worrell shouted, “Yeah! Taking the Capitol!” prosecutors wrote.
Worrell did not enter the Capitol.
“When confronted with this conduct at trial, Worrell showed no remorse,” the DOJ memo said. “Instead, though under oath, he spun falsehood after incredible falsehood in an effort to deflect responsibility and cast himself as a hero intervening to protect the police. He told these lies without shame.”
Prosecutors allege Mr. Worrell lied under oath at trial and provided “knowingly false” information to the FBI during its investigation.
In Mr. Worrell’s sentencing memo, Mr. Shipley said much of the information in the DOJ sentencing document is irrelevant to his client’s actual conduct on Jan. 6. Mr. Shipley calculated Mr. Worrell’s sentencing range as between 63 and 78 months.
Mr. Shipley asked Judge Lamberth for a downward variance in sentencing guidelines. He recommended 60 months of probation with 30 months of home detention as the best way to ensure Mr. Worrell gets proper treatment for his lymphoma.
“Mr. Worrell also feels compelled to again put in the public record that after he was initially detained pending trial, he was denied medical care completely, and it took nine court appearances over the course of 240 days for the necessary medical care to be given, and then only based on the direct order of this court was it made to happen,” Mr. Shipley wrote.
Prosecutors are asking Judge Lamberth to impose a fine of up to $181,000 based on Worrell’s online fund-raising.
“Worrell should not be able to ‘capitalize’ on his assault on police officers and participation in the Capitol breach,” the prosecutors said. If Mr. Worrell can document that the money was spent on medical care or attorney fees, those amounts can be deducted from the total fine, the DOJ memo said.
