A former police chief from California, in the western United States, was sentenced Thursday to 11 years and three months in prison for his participation in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Prosecutors had asked for 12 years and a half sentence against Alan Hostetter, 59, convicted of four counts in July, including obstructing an official proceeding and disruptive conduct with a dangerous or deadly weapon in a restricted area.
More than 1,230 people arrested and charged over Capitol assault
The former police officer, who appeared free and will have to turn himself in prison in January, provided his own defense during his trial. He persisted to the end in his conspiratorial statements according to which the 2020 election was “stolen” from outgoing Republican President Donald Trump by his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. On January 6, 2021, hundreds of white-hot Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, the sanctuary of American democracy, to try to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
Since then, more than 1,230 people have been arrested and charged. More than 450 were sentenced, the majority to prison terms. Donald Trump was not directly concerned by the courts for these events, although the commission of inquiry into January 6, 2021 recommended criminal proceedings against him in December 2022, in particular for calling for rebellion and plotting against the American institutions. He was indicted in August by a federal court in Washington and then by the courts of the state of Georgia (southeast) for his allegedly illicit attempts to obtain the reversal of the results of the 2020 election.
These historic lawsuits opened a legal debate on his possible ineligibility, leading to appeals in around ten states to remove Donald Trump from the ballots for the 2024 presidential election. If most of the courts seized have so far rejected the requests In this sense, the Colorado Supreme Court must rule soon after hearing arguments from both sides on Wednesday on an appeal of a trial court decision.
A judge in Denver, capital of this western state, concluded on November 17 that Donald Trump had “engaged in rebellion on January 6, 2021” but that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, invoked to claim his ineligibility, did not apply to a president.