An Army reservist from New Jersey was found guilty Friday on misdemeanor and felony charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Breach when his actions disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain electoral votes related to the presidential election.
The arrest happened on Jan. 15, 2021, and Hale-Cusanelli’s sentencing is set for Sept. 16, 2022. Altogether, the charges carry a statutory maximum of 23 years in prison along with financial penalties.
During the time of incident, Hale-Cusanelli was enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves and worked at a naval weapons station with a “secret” security clearance. He has since been disbarred from the facility.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Hale-Cusanelli joined a crowd of demonstrators that illegally breached a police line on Capitol grounds. Based on government evidence, he commanded other people to “advance” on the Capitol.
He moved inside the building shortly after the breach that took place at 2:12 p.m. at the Senate wing door, and remained inside for approximately 40 minutes.
“Days after the incident, Hale-Cusanelli told a friend that being in the Capitol was ‘exhilarating,’ he was hoping for a ‘civil war,’ and that the ‘tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants,’” according to the DOJ report.
“I know this sounds idiotic, but I’m from New Jersey,” he told jurors on Thursday. “I feel like an idiot, it sounds idiotic, and it is.”
He told a federal prosecutor, “I didn’t know the Capitol building was the same as the congressional building.”
Sergeant John Getz, who was Hale-Cusanelli’s supervisor at Naval Weapon Station Earle for a period of 1.5 years, offered a “letter of support” in the documents. He wrote that he knew Hale-Cusanelli for a little over 2 years.
“I was appalled at how he was slandered in the press in regards to him being a ‘white supremacist’. I have never known him to be this way. I know that our co-workers would agree. For example, he was close with an African-American co-worker for whom he would frequently buy breakfast,” Getz wrote.
“Never have I seen Mr. Hale treat any of his African-American co-workers differently than anybody else, nor have I heard any distasteful jokes or language leave his mouth. I believe the media to have severely exaggerated this particular character trait.”
However, the documents refer to contradicting statements the sergeant made to NCIS during an interview.
Following the arrest and subsequent detention of Hale-Cusanelli, he has since been held in solitary confinement.
“I realized very quickly that what I was doing for my nephew and my family I could be doing for other people,” Hughes told The Epoch Times. “So, through Patriot Freedom Project we have replaced the public defenders and supplemented retainers for people who hired their own attorneys.”
Since the Jan. 6 breach, over 800 individuals have been located and arrested from nearly all 50 states. More than 250 individuals have been charged with assault and impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.
