LOWCOUNTRY, S.C. (WCIV) — Monday marks four years since America watched in dismay as a group of rioters breached the Capitol in efforts to prevent the certification of the 2020 election which was won by President Joe Biden. At 1 p.m., Vice President Kamala Harris will certify the results of the 2024 election which was won by Republican Donald Trump.
In the four years since the attack on the Capitol by a group of Trump’s supporters, it was discovered several of the rioters that were arrested have ties to the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Their charges range from entering a restricted building to acts of violence at the Capitol building.
Below is a summary of cases in the Lowcountry in connection to the Jan. 6 attack.
SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — A pair of men from Summerville are facing charges in connection to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Chadwick Gordon Clifton, 47, and David Charles Johnston, 66, are charged with Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds; Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds; and Parade, Demonstrate, or Picket in any of the Capitol Buildings.
In December 2022, Johnston was sentenced to 36 months probation and ordered to pay a fine.
In January 2023, Clifton was sentenced to 36 months probation and fined.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCIV) — A cadet at The Citadel, who was videoed taking part in the January 6th, 2021 riot at the Capitol, pleaded guilty to Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds on Wednesday, according to court records.
Elias Irizarry faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervision following his release.
Irizarry was sentenced in March 2023 to 14 days in jail, the Rock Hill Herald reported.
(AP) — A Marine who stormed the U.S. Capitol and apparently flashed a Nazi salute in front of the building was sentenced on Friday to nearly five years in prison.
Tyler Bradley Dykes, of Bluffton, South Carolina, was an active-duty Marine when he grabbed a police riot shield from the hands of two police officers and used it to push his way through police lines during the attack by the mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Dykes, who pleaded guilty in April to assault charges, previously was convicted of a crime stemming from the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dykes was transferred to federal custody in 2023 after he served a six-month sentence in a state prison.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Dykes, who’s 26, to four years and nine months of imprisonment, the Justice Department said.
HANAHAN, S.C. (WCIV) — A Hanahan couple charged with storming the Capitol were sentenced to 60 days in prison, 100 hours of community service and $500 payments each in restitution.
John Getsinger and Stacie Hargis-Getsinger both pleaded guilty to breaching the Capitol.
They were arrested last June.
According to an affidavit, Stacie Hargis-Getsinger had made multiple Facebook posts about what happened while they were in Washington D.C. She also used Facebook Messenger to discuss the events of that day.
SOUTH CAROLINA (WCIV) — Two South Carolina men were arrested Wednesday on felony and misdemeanor charges allegedly connected to their roles in the Jan. 6 riots and breach of the United States Capitol.
Christopher George Rockey, 54, of Cross, and Edward Picquet, Jr., 61, of Hollywood, are facing both felony and misdemeanor charges.
Rockey was charged with felony offenses of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and civil disorder. Additionally, Rockey is facing several misdemeanor charges, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or ground without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings.
Picquet was charged with a felony offense of civil disorder, as well as multiple misdemeanor offenses, including knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or ground without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in any of the Capitol buildings.
On Nov. 12, 2024, Rockey was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by 24 months of supervised release.
There are no updates regarding the charges against Picquet at the time of publishing.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Thomas Edward Blackwood, a former officer with the North Charleston Police Department, was sentenced for crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capital.
Blackwood was given four years probation, 100 hours of community service and a $500 fine for knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted area, disorderly and disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds, parading, and demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Blackwood is accused of entering the Capitol building twice and was seen on CCTV footage, court documents said.
Blackwood worked with the North Charleston Police Department from 1976 to 2007 as an officer, according to a training history report from the state’s criminal justice academy.
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