January 6 Defendant who opened fire on deputies sentenced to two years

Nathan Donald Pelham, a Texas man, was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for shooting local law enforcement officers days before he was scheduled to surrender to the FBI on charges related to illegally entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. .

On April 12, an FBI special agent called Mr. Pelham to tell him that a federal warrant had been issued for his arrest and that he was required to surrender on April 17, according to the indictment. Mr. Pelham agreed to do this.

But later that day, Mr. Pelham called local police to check on his son because he had threatened to kill himself and had a gun, the complaint said. When police arrived at Mr. Pelham’s home, it was dark and police soon heard a series of gunshots coming from the house.

“The bullet from this shot came so close to me that I could hear the distinct whistling sound as the bullet traveled past me and then struck a metal object on my right side,” one of the responding officers recalled, according to the criminal. complaint.

Later that evening, prosecutors said Mr. Pelham walked onto his porch and fired shots at the deputies. The officers ordered him to put down his weapon, but he went inside, returned and opened fire again. None of the deputies were hit.

Mr. Pelham was arrested in April and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to an official report filed on Wednesday in the case docket.

Ed Kinkeade, the U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, recommended that Mr. Pelham serve his sentence in Forrest City, Ark., and that he be allowed to enter a residential substance abuse program.

In addition to the firearms charge, Mr. Pelham was also charged in April with four felonies for illegally entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, through a door on the Senate side of the building, where he remained for more than seven minutes. Mr. Pelham wore goggles, a neck gaiter and a baseball hat with a logo associated with the Proud Boys, the far-right group, according to court papers.

Mr. Pelham pleaded guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, according to a judgment filed in September in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He served his time for that offense from the date of his arrest, April 14, to the date of sentencing, September 13.

More than 1,110 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol. Enrique Tarrio, the group’s former leader, received the harshest sentence: 22 years in prison for the role he played in organizing his followers to attack the building and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

Ethan Nordean, group commander of the Proud Boys, was sentenced to 18 years. Dominic Pezzola, the man who smashed a window with a riot shield and caused the breach in the building, was sentenced to 10 years. In May, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia, another far-right group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the role he played in the attack.