Former Police Officer Sees Jan. 6 Sentence Reduced After Supreme Court Ruling

Former Virginia police officers Jacob Fracker (L) and Thomas Robertson pose in the U.S. Capitol after breaching it on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice

A former Virginia police officer who took part in the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021, received a reduced sentence on Sept. 4.

Thomas Robertson was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington to six years in prison, down from seven years and three months.

Robertson, who has been imprisoned for more than three years, was the first Capitol breach defendant to be resentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court in June said prosecutors were being too broad with their obstruction-of-an-official-proceeding charges related to Jan. 6. Justices said prosecutors would need to provide proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents.

Jurors in 2022 convicted Robertson on six counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding.

The charge was not dropped against Robertson, but he appeared again before Cooper for a new sentence on orders from a federal appeals court, which said the new sentence should comply with an appeals court ruling that said two enhancements for sentencing guidelines could not be applied for the Jan. 6 breach. The appeals court also told Cooper he could consider the Supreme Court ruling.

Without the enhancements in play, the range for Robertson’s new sentence dropped from seven to nine years to 37 to 46 months, according to the government.

Defense attorneys asked Cooper for a sentence of 24 to 30 months, arguing that prosecutors did not show evidence of a violation of the obstruction count in light of the Supreme Court decision.

Prosecutors said the new sentence should be the same length as the previous sentence. They said an upward variance from the sentencing guidelines was warranted because of “the unprecedented and uniquely harmful nature of his crimes,” including entering the Capitol, remaining inside to take pictures, and bragging about what he did on social media.

Cooper imposed a term of six years, which went beyond the sentencing guidelines, after dismissing the obstruction charge.

“I assume I won’t be seeing you a third time,” the judge told Robertson at the end of his second sentencing hearing.

Robertson, who declined to address the court at his first sentencing hearing, told the judge on Sept. 4 that he looks forward to returning home and rebuilding his life after prison.

“I realize the positions that I was taking on that day were wrong,” he said of the Jan. 6 Capitol breach. “I’m standing before you very sorry for what occurred on that day.”

Robertson traveled to Washington on that morning with another off-duty Rocky Mount police officer, Jacob Fracker, and a third man, a neighbor who wasn’t charged in the case.

Fracker, who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with the government, was sentenced in 2022 to probation and two months of home detention. Rocky Mount fired Robertson and Fracker after the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.