CNN
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A Jan. 6 defendant on Friday mocked a federal judge’s decision to immediately send him to prison for a year for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot, shouting while handcuffed that President-elect Donald Trump would would grant his grace.
The rioter, Philip Sean Grillo of New York, announced after his sentencing, “Trump is going to pardon me anyway,” as a U.S. marshal had him remove his belt and tie before handcuffing him inside the courtroom.
Senior Judge Royce Lamberth of the D.C. District Court spoke about the role of the judiciary in bringing justice to the hundreds of Capitol rioters who have faced criminal charges over the past four years. On Trump’s promise to pardon themLamberth said he “had no say in this decision.”
“I will do my job as I am required to do by oath, and the president will do his. It’s as simple as that,” the judge told the courtroom. He added that delivering justice was worth it, “regardless of the political winds of the moment.”
It is extremely rare for a judge to order that a defendant who is a nonviolent offender like Grillo be taken into custody immediately upon conviction. Lamberth’s courtroom on Friday provided a stunning glimpse into the status of the Jan. 6 prosecution, as federal judges continue to sentence the defendants even as Trump promised to release them upon his return to the White House .
Lamberth gave little explanation for his reasoning for immediate pretrial detention, remarking only that he was ordering it because of “where we are in the process.”
“It is up to this court to hold him accountable.” So now, bound by my oath of office and my allegiance to the Constitution of the United States, this is what I will do,” Lamberth said before pronouncing the sentence.
Court records show Grillo had been drinking on Jan. 6, 2021, spent a significant amount of time inside the Capitol building and was filmed shouting “charge” into a megaphone among the crowd. He had expressed little remorse in court for his actions until Friday, when he told the judge he didn’t recognize the person in the video from four years ago.
Lamberth sentenced him to one year of supervised release after one year in prison. Grillo’s crimes, of which a jury found him guilty at trial, included entering a restricted federal building and disruptive behavior on restricted Capitol grounds.
“I’m mortified,” Grillo told the judge during his sentencing. “I wish I never went there.”
The judge spent 30 minutes at the end of the sentencing hearing denouncing how the Capitol rioters, their supporters and Trump himself downplayed the violence of that day in 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters invaded the Capitol. Lamberth also spoke at length about his role as a federal judge in facilitating the discovery of facts, enforcing the law and dispensing justice.
“They invaded the nerve center of our republic while it was carrying out one of its most important functions: certifying the results of the presidential election,” Lamberth said. “Even non-violent defendants deserve to be punished.”
Grillo’s defense attorney asked Lamberth to give Grillo a day to voluntarily turn himself in, and Lamberth said no.
Two friends of Grillo in the courtroom, who said they were Republican Party leaders in the Bronx and Queens, New York, remarked loudly after the sentencing that they were in contact with the Trump transition team over the promised pardons and that Grillo would be pardoned.
“Don’t worry, Phil,” one of the friends shouted immediately after Lamberth left the courtroom. The man declined to say who on Trump’s team he had spoken with.