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US v. Audrey Southard-Rumsey - Sentencing Memo [1]
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Date: 2023-07-15
United States vs. Audrey Southard-Rumsey
GOVERNMENT’S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM
Audrey Southard-Rumsey went on a violent rampage through the United States Capitol Building—a rampage that she hoped would lead to the removal of all Democratic officials and the installation of Donald Trump as President for another four years. To carry out her plan, she used her body to attack officers on the East Front, near the House Chamber, and in the Rotunda.
And this acclaimed singer used her voice: to urge other members of the crowd to join the attack, to broadcast her plans to take the Capitol, to scream threats at Congress. She got perilously close to her target, much closer than many other rioters that day. Holding a flagpole she turned into a weapon, she led the mob’s push to the doors of the House Chamber. Officers who tried to stop her were pinned against doors. Over a year later, they remembered her as one of the principal agitators that day and how, in those moments, they feared for their lives. Meanwhile, members of Congress were in the middle of an evacuation, and some were trapped in the Gallery. They could hear the furious mob outside.
Southard-Rumsey was a known, angry presence at political rallies in Florida during 2020. Leading up to January 6, on Facebook, she began to call for a 1776-style revolution and the execution of traitors if Congress did not certify Donald Trump as the winner of the election. She worked on a manifesto providing the details of the revolution and the new regime she desired.
On January 6, she went straight for her target, showing up at the Capitol before President Trump had even begun to speak. She broadcast her intent to take the Capitol on Facebook Live, saying that she just needed enough people to do it. And then, she acted on her plans. She was at the front of the mob to breach the East Front. She was at the front of the mob confronting a small group of officers attempting to keep the crowd away from the Capitol’s Rotunda Doors. She screamed at an officer and tried to wrench away his riot shield. It didn’t work, and she tried again. The mob eventually got its way, and Southard-Rumsey became one of the first rioters to enter through the Rotunda Doors. Again, she focused on her target, and moved quickly toward the House Chamber. A line of officers came to meet her; the mob filled in behind her. A standoff began—the stand-off described above that ended with a push led by Southard-Rumsey, now wielding an American flag against officers dedicated to protecting that country.
The House Chamber held despite the mob’s advance to the very last set of doors protecting it. But Southard-Rumsey did not give up. She tried to make her way to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, participating in a push against a police line precariously backed up against a set of stairs. She then grabbed the batons of officers who tried to get her to move back. She turned to face the crowd behind her and yelled, “it’s now or never! Freedom!” exhorting others to fight, just as she had done near the House Chamber. And then, she saw an opening in the Rotunda crowd, ran toward a heavy metal stanchion, and picked it up with both hands, ready to attack the officers. An officer rushed toward her with his baton, and she backed away.
Outside the Capitol, sitting on the steps, Southard-Rumsey displayed the defiance and remorselessness that has characterized her throughout this case. She lamented that her fellow rioters had not succeeded in breaking into the House Chamber, and angrily yelled that at the crowd they were all going to end up as slaves if they did not fight for their freedom.
The January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol forced an interruption of the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count, threatened the peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 Presidential election, injured more than one hundred police officers, and resulted in more than 2.8 million dollars in losses.
(As of October 17, 2022, the approximate losses suffered as a result of the siege at the United States Capitol was $2,881,360.20. That amount reflects, among other things, damage to the United States Capitol building and grounds and certain costs borne by the United States Capitol Police.)
Southard-Rumsey was one of the most intentional, hostile, and aggressive participants in the riot. Few other January 6 defendants stand convicted of as many assaults, affecting as many officers, and fewer also personally played a leading role in attempting to breach the House Chamber.
The government recommends that the Court sentence Southard-Rumsey to 72 months' incarceration for her seven felony convictions—one obstruction conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2), three assault convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1), and three civil disorder convictions under 18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3). This represents a midpoint sentence within the advisory Guidelines’ range of 63-78 months, a range that includes an upward departure of two offense levels under U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4, cmt. n.4. A 72-month sentence reflects Southard-Rumsey’s unapologetic attempt to attack Congress and the acts of violence she committed, and sought to provoke, throughout the Capitol. . . .
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