Navy veteran who stormed Capitol gets 3 years on gun charges

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former Navy reservist who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler has been sentenced to three years in prison on firearms charges. The sentence imposed Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, was only slightly less than what was sought by federal prosecutors and much longer than the one-year term sought by lawyers for 41-year-old Hatchet Speed of McLean. The gun charges against him in Virginia are separate from charges brought in Washington, D.C., for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack. He will sentenced on those charges next month. Speed’s lawyers asked the judge not to punish him for his inflammatory views, which included admiration not only for Hitler but also Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.