Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, who was wearing a MAGA hat when he drove a stun gun into the officer’s neck at the Capitol
Washington — A California man who prosecutors described as “one of the most violent defendants on January 6, 2021” was sentenced to 151 months — about 12 ½ years — in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to violent and obstructive conduct during the Capitol riot.
Daniel “DJ” Rodriguez admitted as part of a plea agreement in February that he attacked former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone with a taser, causing him to lose consciousness, and that he worked to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Rodriguez will also have to pay $96,000 to cover medical treatment for Fanone.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed Rodriguez’s 151-month sentence on Wednesday, saying he was a “one-man army of hate, attacking police officers and destroying property” on Jan. 6.
Daniel “D.J.” Rodriguez, a California man who traveled to D.C. with fellow Trump supporters who belonged to a Telegram group called the “PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang,” pleaded guilty in February to felony conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents or proceedings, and inflicting bodily injury on officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
“There will be blood,” Rodriguez wrote in “MAGA Gang” Telegram chat on the night of Jan. 5, just hours before attending Trump’s rally at the White House Ellipse. “Welcome to the revolution.”
On Jan. 6, after joining the fight in the Capitol’s lower west tunnel — where some of the most violent scenes of the day played out — Rodriguez attacked officer Michael Fanone, later bragging about his actions in the Telegram chat “Omg I did so much f—ing s— [right now] and got away,” Rodriguez wrote to fellow members of the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang. “Tazzed the f— out of the blue.”
