Navy Veteran Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

Hatchet Speed in an undated police booking photo. Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP

A Navy veteran has been sentenced to four additional years in prison for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice announced.

Virginia resident Hatchet Speed was sentenced on May 8 in the District of Columbia by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee.

The 42-year-old was convicted on misdemeanor charges for obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Additionally, McFadden sentenced Speed to three years of supervised release once his prison term is over. He must also pay a $10,000 fine plus $2,000 in restitution.

In April, in an unrelated case, U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff sentenced Speed to three years in prison for three counts of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm silencer.

Speed will serve the latest four-year sentence after he completes the three-year term for the unlawful possession offense.

According to court documents (pdf), Speed was a petty officer first class in the U.S. Naval Reserves and was assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office, part of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

More recently, he was employed as a software developer and technical lead for Vienna-based defense contractor, Novetta Solutions LLC, which conducts advanced analytics for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and numerous other federal agencies.

Protesters gather at the police line on the west side of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Special to The Epoch Times

Speed Enters Capitol

In other court documents (pdf), prosecutors said that Speed drove to Washington, D.C. from his home in Vienna on Jan. 6 and attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse, where President Donald Trump addressed his supporters.

After leaving the rally, Speed joined some members of the Proud Boys group, of which he had allegedly been a member since June 2020, in marching to the Capitol, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Speed was wearing a “tactical backpack” and a “Make America Great Again” hat when he approached the Capitol from the west, “walking past downed fencing and bike racks pushed aside.”

Speed arrived at the West Plaza at 1:30 p.m. in an area where “a brutal battle between rioters and a vastly outnumbered police force was underway,” prosecutors said, noting that Speed was hit with tear gas when he arrived in the area.

“Approximately an hour later, Speed made his way under a tarp, through scaffolding erected for the inauguration, and to a staircase leading to the Northwest Courtyard, closer to the Capitol,” prosecutors said. “Nearby, rioters climbed on the banister and stood in decorative pots. He knew the staircase was ‘off limits.’ He arrived at the Northwest Courtyard, where he saw rioters commandeer a window-washing platform, ascend to an upper-level window, and try to break in. He also stood at the base of a small staircase and watched another rioter use a large crowbar to bash through the window of the door at the top.”

Prosecutors said that once that door was opened, Capitol Police “rushed forward to defend the doorway but rioters rushed the stairs and overtook them.”

A Capitol Police security camera captures the breach of barricades on the Capitol's east side on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Department of Justice/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

Ballot Validations ‘A Betrayal’

Once he reached the Northwest Courtyard, prosecutors said that Speed heard that Vice President Mike Pence had “validated” certain ballots he considered “invalid” and that he viewed the validation as a “betrayal.”

At around 3 p.m., Speed then entered the building through a glass-paned emergency-exit door to the Senate wing of the Capitol that had been shattered after other rioters breached it.

He remained inside the Capitol for roughly 40 minutes before exiting the building through a window and walking around the outside of the Capitol building, taking photographs of riot gear-clad police and the inaugural stage, officials said.

Roughly 20 minutes after leaving the Capitol building, Speed was contacted by a military friend who asked him: “Are you okay? I heard protesters stormed the capital and someone got shot??” court documents state.

Prosecutors said that Speed responded to the message, writing: “We made it to the crypt with sheer force of numbers. Then we heard that the capitol had been evacuated, the vote postponed. So I backed out, but some are still in there, riot cops are streaming in on the south side.”

In another message to his military friend, Speed stated that protesters had entered the Capitol building and its surroundings to “put pressure on Congress to do the right thing, because if they don’t, they won’t like what happens next.”

Speed was arrested on June 22, 2022, in Virginia.

The Navy said in an emailed statement to NBC News that Speed was not with the National Reconnaissance Office at the time of Jan. 6 and was instead assigned to a reserve unit with the Navy Criminal Investigative Service.

A Navy spokesperson added that Speed’s enlistment contract ended in November. “He was not in classified spaces due to a loss of his clearance from not complying with the COVID Vaccine mandate,” the spokesperson said.

Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested for crimes related to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals who have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. An investigation into the breach remains ongoing.

A lawyer for Speed told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement: “I am filing an appeal. No further comment at this time due to the ongoing litigation.”