A Littleton man was sentenced to three years in federal prison this week for confronting and grappling with police during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Patrick Montgomery, 51, was found guilty of obstructing an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers earlier this year, according to federal prosecutors and court records.
After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that raised the bar of evidence for charging Capitol rioters with obstruction, the obstruction charge was dropped and Montgomery was sentenced Thursday to 37 months of imprisonment and 36 months of supervised release for the remaining charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia wrote in a news release that Montgomery and co-defendants Brady Knowlton and Gary Wilson attended the “Save America” rally on the morning of Jan. 6, where then-President Donald Trump and his allies promoted the unfounded claim that widespread voter fraud caused Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.
Montgomery, Knowlton and Wilson then walked to the west side of the Capitol building, where they crossed a restricted perimeter, and Montgomery tried to wrestle a baton out of the hands of a law enforcement officer.
“The officer held onto the baton and fell to the ground with Montgomery,” prosecutors said in the release. “The two then attempted to wrestle control of the baton from each other while Knowlton and Wilson watched nearby. During the scuffle, Montgomery kicked the police officer in the chest.”
Montgomery and others entered the building through an emergency exit, proceeding through the Capitol rotunda and into the Senate gallery, where the three confronted a U.S. Capitol police officer.
According to prosecutors, Montgomery yelled at the officer, “You’ve got to stop doing your job sometime and start being American. You’ve got to quit doing your job and be an American.”
The group left the building soon after, and Montgomery was arrested in Colorado on Jan. 17, 2021. Knowlton is awaiting sentencing for his role in the riot, and Wilson was sentenced to one month’s imprisonment and a year of supervised release, prosecutors said.
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In 2021, Montgomery, a Littleton hunting guide, violated the conditions of his release by hunting and killing a mountain lion and was placed on house arrest. He had been ordered not to possess any guns while the federal charges against him were pending, according to motions filed by prosecutors.
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