Son of Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell Sentenced To Nearly 4 Years In Prison For Protesting On Jan. 6
The son of prominent conservative activist Brent Bozell was sentenced on Friday to nearly four years in prison for protesting in the Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Prosecutors argued Leo Brent Bozell IV leveled a “relentless” assault on the US Capitol, where he smashed a window and walked on the Senate floor.
Bozell was one of the first protesters to enter the building and one of the first to walk on the Senate floor during the Capitol riot.
Bozell’s father founded the Media Research Center, the Parents Television Council, Newsbusters and other leading conservative media organizations.
US District John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, sentenced Bozell to three years and nine months behind bars. Bozell was convicted of 10 charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.
Bozell apologized to his wife and parents during the sentencing hearing for putting “a stain on my family forever.”
“I don’t recognize that person in the videos,” he told the judge. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Bates scolded Bozell for premeditating violence ahead of Jan. 6.
“You had plenty of chances to stop doing what you were doing,” the judge said.
Bates is allowing Bozell to remain free until he reports to prison at a date to be determined.
Prosecutors sought 11 years and eight months in prison for Bozell and attempted to add a terror enhancement to his sentence, contending he led rioters in breaking through police lines and mounted “relentless and sustained attacks” on law enforcement.
“There are few rioters on January 6 who were involved in as many pivotal breaches as Bozell,” the government wrote in Bozell’s 60-page sentencing memorandum.
Bozell’s father submitted a letter to the court when he caught wind of the prosecutors’ intent to add a terrorism enhancement.
“I have remained silent for the past 3 1/2 years because I didn’t want to tip the apple cart of justice,” he wrote. “But given what I saw in the trial, and more importantly learning about this terror enhancement, I no longer can. I believe there is more at play here.
“I am not pleading my son’s innocence, only that his punishment match the crime. I am asking the Court to consider my son’s character that is sterling and is being defended by absolutely everyone around him. I ask that you consider their words as words of honest men and women speaking honest truth. Every single one would recoil in horror in your presence were they told he should now be considered a terrorist.”
Bozell’s attorney, former government prosecutor Bill Shipley, called the judge’s ruling in Bozell’s case a “win.”
“The Government initially prevailed on the Probation Office to calculate Leo’s “Guideline Range” under the US Sentencing Guidelines as 210 – 240 months because Leo was convicted of breaking two windows. Ultimately, the Government’s Sentencing Statement asked for ONLY a sentence of 140 months — just short of 11 years and 8 months,” Shipley wrote on X after his client was sentenced. “Probation recommended 60 months — 5 years. Co-counsel Eric Snyder and I suggested that an appropriate sentence should be no more than 30 months. Today Leo was sentenced to a period of 45 months — 95 months less than the DOJ wanted.
“Terrorism enhancement NOT applied. Only 15 more months than was suggested by the defense. Sometimes in these Jan 6 cases — this is what a “Win” looks like. Maybe not an A+ outcome — but not too far from where our hopes were.”
Bozell was apprehended by the FBI in February 2021. A sedition hunter identified him from the “Hershey Christian Academy” sweatshirt that he wore during the riot.
To date, 1,424 Americans are facing federal charges for protesting on January 6. Of the defendants charged, 820 have taken plea deals while 199 were convicted at trial.
Meanwhile, not a single Hamas supporter has been targeted by the Justice Department for storming the US Capitol or destroying the White House gate.
Let’s play a game called ‘if this happened on J6’…
This would be a felony punishable by 5 years in prison.pic.twitter.com/x6E2j8rcWb
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) May 3, 2024
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