Capitol rioter gets sentence quadrupled after meltdown in court

A New York massage therapist who joined Trump-supporting rioters in storming the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to three months in jail after he dodged court hearings, insulted a prosecutor and verbally attacked the judge who punished him. According to the Associated Press, Frank Giustino pleaded guilty in February to a misdemeanor charge related to the Jan. 6 insurrection but was arrested last month after failing to appear in court for a previously scheduled sentencing hearing.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg admonished Giustino on Tuesday, stating that he seemed to have no remorse for his conduct during the attack or any respect for the nation’s authority. “Your behavior from the moment of the (guilty) plea until sentencing has been about the worst of any January 6th defendant I’ve had,” the judge said. Giustino, however, said he condemned the violence and didn’t intend to be disrespectful. “I just want to go home,” said Giustino, who will remain in custody for about two more months after receiving a roughly 30-day credit for the time he has been detained while awaiting a sentence. 

Prosecutors recommended a four-month prison stint for Giustino. They had initially requested a 21-day sentence but pursued a longer term of incarceration after the massage therapist defiantly disrupted a June 23 court hearing. During that proceeding, Giustino dubbed his case “an absolute clown show of a prosecution,” used language that appeared to reference the sovereign citizen extremist movement’s believe that the U.S. government is illegitimate, and said, “Why don’t I issue a warrant for your arrest?” after the judge threatened to order one against him because of his courtroom conduct.