WASHINGTON — A far right extremist was “obsessed” with Nick Fuentes. He is scheduled to be sentenced for storming the U.S. Capitol, leading a mob towards Nancy Pelosi’s office and where another rioter took a laptop.
Federal prosecutors Riley Williams argued that Riley Williams ” led an Army” up a set stairs towards Pelosi’s Office and was there when rioters stole the laptop that the California Democrat kept at her conference room. She used it for ” all of her Zoom meetings.”
Lori Ulrich, Williams’ federal public defense lawyer, stated that Williams may have had “distasteful beliefs”, but that she was a young woman with only a cell phone and a fuzzy zebra bag. She even claimed at one point that Williams was “STORMING WHITE HOUSE” while she actually worked in the legislative branch. Her defense claimed that Williams “wanted to become somebody.”
Williams was eventually convicted of six counts: resisting and impeding officers and felony civil disorder. He also faced four misdemeanors. The jury was unable to decide whether Williams assisted or abetted Pelosi in stealing her laptop.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson will sentence Williams on Thursday. She ordered Williams to be remanded following the verdict. She said she had “no confidence whatsoever” that Williams would respect the rule of law.
Federal prosecutors requested 87-months or more than seven years in federal prison for Riley. They argued that such a sentence would hold Riley accountable “for her overwhelming and chilling involvement in — and furtherance — the violence and chaos” at the Capitol on January 6.
Williams was an accelerant and exacerbated the chaos wherever she went. She continued forward, even when others stopped her path. She gathered other rioters, particularly larger men in helmets and body armor, and drove them forward, using the mob to push through police lines. In a sentencing memo, they stated that the officers she encountered were among the injured.
“Then, between the riot on January 18th 2021 and her arrest, Williams repeatedly destroyed evidence, tried to evade police officers: She deleted her communication accounts, instructed others, to delete messages and takedown videos from the internet. She reset her iPhone, switched cell phones and used advanced software for wiping her computer,” she wrote. We’ll keep your f —–g name and you’re a traitor. Prosecutors declared that you are a traitor to the country. Later, she claimed that she had been “right infront of the police calling them traitors” as she pushed back against officers. Williams spent approximately 90 minutes in the building and then climbed onto a tactical police car when she was done.
Williams wrote that she had been told that what she did was wrong, but that in her heart and soul, what Williams did was patriotic. She also wrote that her father should be punished. Williams traveled to D.C. on January 14, 2021 with Williams, according to prosecutors.
Williams’ lawyers requested that a sentence of one-year and one-half days in federal prison be imposed on Williams.
They wrote that a sentence of 12 months and one day was appropriate to reflect the seriousness of Ms. Williams’ conduct on January 6th. It is just punishment for her actions. It also reflects Ms. Williams’ character, particularly her youth and inability to receive appropriate parental guidance. It also takes into consideration that she has no criminal record.
Williams’ fiance wrote to the court that Williams was addicted to the internet before Jan. 6, and she “seeked attention and [affirmation] form anyone who could.” He wrote that she became a better Christian and now wants to be “a mother and wife and a servant of God.” Ian Hoyt Franz said she wants to homeschool her children and teach them to love, be honorable, and be virtuous. She wants to raise sheep for wool and cows to milk them.
“When Riley is done and able return home, I plan to marry her and start a new life with her.” Franz wrote that she would buy some land to get her the sheep. “How much more must she endure?” Franz wrote. Riley’s time away is unknown, but her family and I will wait patiently for her return.
Her mother was Williams and she said that she longs for a simpler life and that her dream is to own a home on a large piece of land with a large family and lots of vegetables and fruits to grow in a garden.
Williams’ mother, Williams, wrote that Williams “realized how blessed it was to have been taken off the internet” following her arrest and “found other interests such as crocheting.”
