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Plea deal: Capitol Hill man gets 6-month sentence for assaults on media during Washington governor’s mansion protest

The Capitol Hill, Seattle man accused of assaulting and threatening media in Olympia the same day as the January 6th storming of the Capitol in Washington D.C. will spend six months in jail after pleading guilty Monday in a Thurston County courtroom.

Damon Huseman, 27, agreed to plead guilty to three counts of third-degree assault, two counts of harassment, and a count of criminal trespass, according to court records.

 

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CHS reported in late January on Huseman’s not guilty plea as the Summit Ave resident was arrested after he was captured on video wearing paramilitary style clothing, carrying an “assault type rifle,” and threatening media during an attempt to enter the Washington governor’s residence the same day as the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol in D.C.

According to the State Patrol report on the January 6th incidents, Huseman threatened one media member as she struggled to keep him from taking her phone, telling the state government reporter and the crowd of media he was going to “shoot them dead” within the coming year. The reporter told troopers she feared for her safety and moved out of the area near Huseman until media security personnel arrived. Earlier, troopers said a freelance photographer and an employee of the state’s TVW were also attacked by Huseman.

The Olympian reports Huseman was sentenced by Thurston County Judge Sharonda Amamilo to serve six months of confinement — a middle ground sentencing for crimes that could have put Huseman in jail for up to a year. “From this court’s perspective, the low end doesn’t really capture a full understanding of what your victims have endured,” Amamilo said, according to The Olympian. “And I do believe the high end would not recognize the law-abiding life you lived before now.”

The Olympian also reports that Huseman maintained his innocence and said he was acting in self defense but took the plea deal to avoid prosecution.

According to court records, Huseman will be subject to five no-contact orders to protect the victims in the case when he is released from jail in Thurston County where he has been held since his arrest on the day before the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

Law enforcement officials also filed an “Extreme Risk Protection Order” barring Huseman from having access to firearms previously in the case.

 

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5 Comments
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James T.
James T.
3 years ago

Not long enough.

Bob
Bob
3 years ago
Reply to  James T.

Wait…I thought we wanted to abolish prisons?

Anastasia
Anastasia
3 years ago

Can Capitol Hill get a restraining order against him?

Bob
Bob
3 years ago
Reply to  Anastasia

If we can get a restraining order against everyone in capitol hill who is a danger than I’d be all for it.

gregg
gregg
3 years ago
Reply to  Anastasia

You’d better- the other thing he did that day was to promise “one bullet for every boomer” in a widely circulated video completely separate from the incidents he was charged with. THAT one was made while at the front door of the governors mansion and while he was with his equally heavily armed and belligerent companions. And after they’d forced their way thru the gate and assaulted the lone female Stater who tried to stop them. Despite vid evidence of these facts, no charges filed for any of those actions, nor were these very minor ones he “plead guilty to” enhanced with a deadly weapon addition. He’ll be out in a few months madder than ever, at which point you’re on your own, Capitol Hill!