[ad_1]
A self-professed member of the Proud Boys from Texas who traveled to Portland, Ore., to confront protesters there final yr was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in jail for taking pictures a person within the eye with a paintball gun, spraying individuals within the face with bear mace and aiming a loaded handgun at a crowd, prosecutors mentioned.
The Texas man, Alan Swinney, 51, was a “white nationalist vigilante cowboy,” who went to Portland to have interaction in political violence throughout protests there in the summer of 2020, prosecutors mentioned.
In social media posts, he made threats towards “the left” and “antifa,” prosecutors mentioned, and he tried to recruit individuals to type a militia to combat in what he believed was a civil warfare.
Mr. Swinney, who appeared at a number of demonstrations within the Northwest, grew to become a “known entity” in Portland, as he instigated and dedicated violent acts below the banner of free speech and pro-police sentiments, prosecutors mentioned.
On two days — Aug. 15, 2020 and Aug. 22, 2020 — he led a small group of like-minded individuals and engaged in a number of acts of violence throughout demonstrations stemming from the homicide of George Floyd, prosecutors mentioned.
Mr. Swinney triggered a severe eye harm by taking pictures a person within the face with a paintball gun, and he discharged bear mace on a number of events — spraying some individuals immediately within the face — and aimed a loaded Ruger .357 magnum handgun at a crowd, prosecutors mentioned. He additionally shot individuals with paintballs, prosecutors mentioned.
In October, after a six-day trial, a Multnomah County jury found Mr. Swinney guilty of 11 legal prices, together with second-degree assault, fourth-degree assault and illegal use of a weapon with a firearm, prosecutors mentioned.
Mr. Swinney’s lawyer, Joseph Westover, didn’t instantly reply on Friday to cellphone and e-mail messages looking for remark.
Throughout the trial, Mr. Westover argued that Mr. Swinney had been defending himself towards “agitators” who had been harassing him and that he noticed himself as a “protector” who got here to Portland to face between demonstrators clad in black inflicting mayhem and “Back the Blue” protesters, The Oregonian reported.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors argued that letters, social media statements and testimony from Mr. Swinney confirmed that he had “no remorse for his actions, no desire to change and every intention of engaging in future acts of violence.”
“During the trial, he quickly labeled all of the people that opposed him as terrorists, he expressed joy for those that were hurt, bragged about his actions, and strongly asserted that he would do it all over again if given the chance,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors included within the memorandum a letter that Mr. Swinney had written to Derek Chauvin, the previous Minneapolis police officer who was sentenced in June to 22 and a half years in jail for murdering Mr. Floyd by kneeling on his neck for greater than 9 minutes as he pleaded for air.
“Our country has too many George Floyds in it,” Mr. Swinney wrote. “It’s time to clean house.”
Prosecutors mentioned that Mr. Swinney had known as himself a “patriot” and that he was a self-professed member of the Proud Boys, the far-right group infamous for participating in brawls.
The group has come under scrutiny as federal brokers attempt to decide to what extent its leaders deliberate the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters quickly disrupted the certification of the presidential election outcomes.
In August, the group’s chief, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced to 5 months in jail for possessing high-capacity rifle magazines a couple of days earlier than the siege and for burning a stolen Black Lives Matter banner in Washington, D.C., after a Trump rally descended into violence in December 2020.
Source link
