Man who brought 'small armory' ahead of U.S. Capitol riot gets almost four-year sentence

[April 02, 2022]  By Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -An Alabama man found with a "small armory" of guns, ammunition and Molotov cocktails in his pickup truck ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced to almost four years in prison, one of the stiffest sentences so far handed down.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the 46-month sentence reflected the seriousness of the charges against Lonnie Coffman, 72, who had pleaded guilty to possessing unregistered firearms.

Coffman's sentence is the third-longest for a Capitol riot defendant, after sentences of 63 months and 51 months to people who attacked police officers during the assault on Congress by former President Donald Trump's supporters.

Of the more than 100 defendants who have been sentenced so far, most have received probationary sentences or short jail sentences of less than two months.

"He had a small armory in his truck, ready to do battle," Kollar-Kotelly said during a sentencing hearing. "I still can't get over why he had this."

Coffman has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 6, 2021, and will get credit for time served.

Coffman's lawyer argued that further incarceration was not warranted in light of his age, health, Vietnam War veteran status, remorse and acceptance of responsibility.

A mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump fight with members of law enforcement at a door they broke open as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Police officers arrested Coffman near the Capitol after noticing the handle of a gun in his pickup truck while they were responding to pipe bombs left outside the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee, both of which are near the Capitol.

Inside Coffman's truck, officers found an AR-15-style rifle, a shotgun, a crossbow, several machetes, smoke grenades and 11 Molotov cocktails. They also found a note with the name of at least one member of Congress and a judge, alongside the notation "bad guy."

Prosecutors said at the time that the combination of weapons and political messages “suggest that these weapons were intended to be used in an effort to violently attack our elected representatives."

About 800 people face criminal charges relating to the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, which forced lawmakers to go into hiding during the certification over President Joe Biden's election victory.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone, Alistair Bell and Mark Porter)

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