Sentencing for Lebanon man who stormed U.S. Capitol moved to July

Kyle Fitzsimons wore a white butcher’s jacket and a fur pelt during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

The first Maine man to go to trial over his involvement at the U.S. Capitol riot in 2021 will now be sentenced in July.

Kyle Fitzsimons, a 39-year-old butcher from Lebanon, was convicted of 11 charges in September, most of them felonies, for assaulting members of law enforcement with a deadly weapon while obstructing an official proceeding. He was one of the hundreds of people who breached the U.S. Capitol while members of Congress were certifying the 2020 Electoral College vote count, threatening the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

He was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday morning, but federal court records indicate it was rescheduled at the last minute to 2 p.m. on July 13.

Kyle Fitzsimons during the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, in court documents. The image is taken from a security camera at the Capitol. Federal court documents

Fitzsimons faces more than 90 years of potential prison time.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gordon and Douglas Brasher last month asked Contreras to hand down a 15-year sentence, followed by three years of supervised release and pay roughly $26,000 in restitution.

If accepted, their recommendation would be one of the highest delivered for cases involving the breach of the Capitol. Yet prosecutors noted in the filing that 15 years is “at the bottom of Fitzsimons’ sentencing guidelines.” They said the proposal took into account his “repeated violence” against law enforcement on Jan. 6 and his “utter lack of remorse, his efforts to profit from his crime, and the urgent need to deter others from engaging in political violence.”

Fitzsimons’ appointed public defender, Jonathan McDonald, did not submit a sentencing request before the original June 2 deadline. McDonald declined to comment on Fitzsimons’ case and sentencing Tuesday. He was assigned to the case after Fitzsimons’ trial attorney, Natasha Taylor-Smith, resigned from the federal defender’s office, according to court records.

Fitzsimons arrived in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 on his own, prosecutors said during trial. The week before, he persuaded a neighbor to post a call-out on Facebook for “able bodies” to accompany him. He also left two “intimidating and implicitly threatening” voice messages with staff for Maine Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, claiming election fraud.

Fitzsimons spent the early afternoon of Jan. 6 at the Trump rally and arrived at the Capitol about 4:15 p.m., wearing a white butcher’s jacket and a fur pelt, carrying a 6-foot-long unstrung bow.

He pushed his way through the mob that was already forming to get to the Lower West Terrace, where a tunnel led from the inaugural stage to the basement of the Capitol building. There were more than 50 officers blocking the entrance.

Kyle Fitzsimons is seen entering an archway on the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Fitzsimons threw his bow at officers like a spear, hitting Metropolitan Police Officer Sarah Beaver in the head. He could be seen on video minutes later, swiping at Metropolitan Police Detective Phuson Nguyen’s gas mask and exposing the officer to a cloud of bear spray.

Eventually, video images show Fitzsimons pulling on Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell’s shoulder as he was helping another officer who fell. Fitzsimons pulled on his arm so forcefully that Gonell testified in August that he later needed surgery. Prosecutors said the injury led Gonell to resign from the Capitol Police.

Twenty seconds went by before another officer hit Fitzsimons, causing him to release Gonell, prosecutors said.

So far, Fitzsimons is the only one of seven Maine residents charged for his actions on Jan. 6 who has gone to trial.

Several others with Maine ties have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced. Glen Mitchell Simon, a former Minot resident who moved to Georgia, was sentenced to eight months in prison in August after pleading guilty to disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area. Nicholas Hendrix of Gorham was sentenced to 30 days in prison in December for parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Two Maine men weren’t charged until this year. David Ball of Wells was charged in March with four misdemeanors and faces up to three years in prison. Christopher Maurer, 45, of Biddeford pleaded not guilty on May 18 to seven counts of violence and civil disorder for his alleged role on Jan. 6.