January 6 A rioter who claimed he attempted to ‘calm everyone down’ during the Capitol attack has received a prison sentence for possessing an illegal weapons cache

A California man was punished for possessing an illegal weapons cache that included an AR-15-style rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition after he challenged police at a set of doors to the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 and was sprayed with mace.

Benjamin Martin, 46, was sentenced to three years and two months in prison by US Attorney Phillip A. Talbert in a press statement on Monday for unlawfully possessing multiple firearms and ammunition. Martin was found guilty of the gun charges after a one-day trial.

When the FBI carried out a search warrant at his Madera residence in September 2021 in relation to the January 6 breach, the firearms case became public knowledge.

Eight firearms, including an AR-15-style rifle, several high-capacity AR-15 magazines, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition, were found during the search by agents who were not allowed to own firearms because of a previous domestic abuse conviction.

Officials say that as his ex-girlfriend tried to escape, he strangled her and pulled her back into the house.

Shortly after his arrest, Martin gave his current fiancée instructions to lie to the police, saying that he was not aware of the firearms that were taken from his house and that they belonged to her and her father. Martin’s punishment for witness tampering was increased by officials.

Martin was convicted in June for his involvement in the Capitol disturbance. Before heading to the Capitol building, he saw a sizable throng enclosing a flight of stairs and some individuals mounting the building’s walls. He had previously attended Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally.

Martin said to the officers watching the building’s doors, “You guys aren’t doing your job.” You took an oath. Your word is your law. Please move over to make room for us.

Martin said, “Our house,” directly into the officer’s face when they failed to react.

A rioter was able to leave the premises through one of the doors that was opened from the inside. Authorities said that when more rioters streamed in behind Martin, he lunged past the officers in front of the door, snatched it, and went inside.

Martin and other rioters were pushed out the door by a bigger number of officers inside, but they stayed at the doorway. Prosecutors claim that Martin kept the door open as other rioters started throwing things, tackling, pushing, and spraying the officers.

Martin kept opening the door as the officers tried to withdraw inside the structure and shut it behind them. Martin did not stop when one cop struck his hand with a baton in an attempt to get it off the door.

Martin managed to seize the door as another rioter sprayed him with mace while the police kept swinging his baton at his hand. Martin grabbed the door once more and tried to hold it open as the police tried to close it. At last, several policemen closed and secured the door. Martin opens one of the doors a few minutes later.

Police used mace and pepper spray on the throng, but Martin stayed for over an hour as protestors tried to re-enter the building.

Martin told the officers to leave their posts and finally left the area, declaring, “We are going to rise up against an oppressive government.”

Martin later informed a news source that he was trying to defuse the situation, according to court filings.

Martin remembers, “I was trying to calm everyone down and get it to be a little bit peaceful and say, Hey, guys, you know, we can be here, and we don’t need to act out.” There were people attempting to break into the building.

Rocks were being thrown at buildings by some protesters, which is unusual for Trump supporters. Supporters of Trump don’t try to smash doors or windows.

He tried to stand between the crowd and the cops, claiming that other groups were breaking in.

Martin told reporters that he was attempting to defuse the situation by negotiating with both parties. The herd of thousands of them approached me from behind as I stood in the center of the front door. You start to move in a certain direction under the weight of everyone else, and at that point, I had no control over anything.

The FBI arrested him after he was warned to his existence by someone he had known since high school, pepper-sprayed him in broadcast video, and sent agents a screenshot of him circled from an ABC World broadcast Tonight piece. When his opinions became more political, the tipster, who had been friends with him on Facebook, unfriended him.

Martin will receive more jail time and fines as part of his punishment in the Capitol breach case on December 20.

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