(WASHINGTON) — Moments before a convicted Jan. 6 rioter was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday, he sought a full pardon by claiming that Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day vindicated his actions.
Zachary Alam told the court that he wanted a new classification of pardon, which he called a “full pardon of patriotism,” for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. That would come with monetary compensation, expungement of the charges from his criminal record and the assurance that he would never again be charged for his crimes.
Alam seemed to characterize anything less as a “second-class pardon” and implied that he would not accept it.
Although Alam did not deny his actions during the riot on the Capitol, stating, “I will 100% admit my actions were not lawful on January 6,” he also justified them by saying he was doing the right thing to protect democracy.
“True patriots do the right thing in spite of everything else,“ he claimed, adding that his fellow rioters had “fought, cried, bled and died for what is right.”
“Trump wasn’t lying,” Alam said in court, emphasizing that the American people voted for him “four years later.”
Judge Dabney Friedrich described Alam’s actions as a “full-throated” attack on the Constitution and “not the acts of a patriot.”
She called Alam one of the “most violent and aggressive” rioters that day, noting that Capitol Police officers also described him as the loudest among them.
At his trial, law enforcement officials recalled him repeatedly telling them, “I’m going to f— you up.”
Lawyers for the Justice Department, meanwhile, noted that Alam stood out on Jan. 6 “because of his actions.”
Those included knocking out the glass door of the Speaker’s Lobby and pushing up against three Capitol Police officers who were trying to keep the mob from entering the floor of the House of Representatives.
He scaled four floors of the Capitol, kicked doors and threw a velvet rope over a balcony in an attempt to hit officers below.
In the courtroom, the Justice Department asserted, “There are consequences to taking law into your own hands.”
Leaving the Capitol after Ashli Babbitt was shot, Alam shouted to fellow rioters that they “need guns.”
He then fled and tried to conceal his identity.
He was arrested about a month later.
Alam also claimed in court that the Justice Department coerced defendants into taking plea deals — an argument the judge dismissed on Thursday.
He asked if the insurgence on Jan. 6 had truly threatened democracy, observing in court that the American people had reelected Trump just 48 hours prior.
“Sometimes you have to break the rules to do the right thing,” he said.
Alam’s attorney Steven Metcalf argued that his client should serve five years in prison, including the nearly four years he had already served, along with time in a halfway house.
Metcalf noted that his client had no friends and had been in and out of solitary confinement, both for his behavior and concerns about his safety.
The attorney said in court that some people are not going to change their beliefs, but conceded that Alam “can’t choose to take things in his own hands.”
He emphasized the need for rehabilitation to help people like his client.
Alam’s attorney depicted him as a defendant who lacked a support system. At the time of the Jan. 6 riot, he was living inside a storage unit and was not close with his family, according to Metcalf. His parents never appeared in court.
He asserted that Capitol Police officers were not traumatized by Alam specifically, arguing that they were not physically hurt by him or his direct actions.
The judge challenged Metcalf’s argument, emphasizing that the Capitol Police officers stationed in the Speaker’s Lobby were the “last stand” between rioters and lawmakers.
She said Alam’s actions contributed to the trauma that those officers faced on Jan 6.
Alam said that he was willing to undergo rehabilitation, but the judge — citing his lack of remorse — instead sentenced him to over eight years in prison and three years of supervised release.
ABC News’ T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
