A Jan. 6 rioter who filmed the insurrection at the Capitol, including the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt, was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison.
John Earle Sullivan, 29, was convicted in November on charges that include felony obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder. His sentenced also includes 36 months of supervised release and an order to pay $2,000 in restitution, according to the Justice Department.
Sullivan had claimed he was a journalist when he joined — and filmed — rioters who breached the Capitol and wreaked havoc inside the building. His most notorious recording includes the moment a Capitol police officer shot and killed Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, as she was participating in the insurrection. Sullivan made approximately $90,000 from selling the footage of Babbitt’s shooting to news outlets, including NBC News. Prosecutors later confiscated the money from him.
Sullivan testified during his trial that he was “only observing.”
“I followed the crowd. I’m there to document,” he said.
But his own recordings painted a different story. Prosecutors said Sullivan recorded himself egging on the crowd to breach the Capitol and shouting things like, “I brought my megaphone to instigate s—.” As his video of Babbitt would suggest, he was among the rioters who gathered outside the House chamber while lawmakers, their staff and members of the press were barricaded inside, and he told the others that he was “ready” because he had “been in so many riots.” Sullivan also filmed himself encouraging a mob to break the glass windows on the door of the House Speaker’s Lobby. Babbitt was shot as she climbed through the broken glass on the door. Prosecutors portrayed Sullivan as a chaos agent. According to the Justice Department, he was filmed saying that he supported anyone who wanted to take the system down.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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