Evergreen Reporter

A Virginia man was sentenced to prison today after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions, along with those of others, disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Joseph Brody, 24, of Springfield, Virginia, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. Brody pleaded guilty to a felony count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers on Feb. 21, 2024.

According to court documents, Brody attended the former President’s rally at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, with several friends and acquaintances. After the rally, the group made their way to the Capitol building and entered via the Senate Wing Door along with many other rioters at approximately 2:16 p.m.

After a few minutes inside the building, Brody and others proceeded toward the Crypt and pushed past law enforcement personnel into a room containing busts of historical figures known as the “Corridor of Honorary Citizens.” The group then moved with the crowd down a hallway near several offices.

Brody and his group later reentered the Crypt and entered a room containing a spiral stairwell before ascending it. At the top of the stairs, they continued forward into an atrium displaying a plaque reading “Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.” The group then entered a conference room within Speaker Pelosi’s office suite.

The group left Speaker Pelosi’s office and ascended the House Gallery Stairs to reach the third level of the Capitol where they proceeded through the Senate East Corridor. Eventually making their way to outside doors labeled Secretary of Senate’s Office and Senate Gallery Door Number 1 near the Senate Chamber.

Brody separated from his group and entered into Senate Chamber while holding his cell phone appearing photographing or recording interior including documents on senator's desks inside chamber before exiting around 2:50 p.m

Upon exiting Capitol premises moving towards North side where law enforcement officers attempted preventing further breaches by using fire extinguisher however grabbing metal barricade shoving over concrete station into officer knocking backward per court documents

Brody's group proceeded outside encountering media equipment looted vandalized though fenced off taking items ripping corded phone apart

FBI arrested Brody Sept14th Springfield prosecuted collaboratively between U.S Attorney Office District Columbia National Security Division Counterterrorism Section assistance Eastern District Virginia FBI Washington Field Office investigated receiving support from U.S Capitol Police Metropolitan Police Department

Since January sixth thousand four hundred seventy individuals charged across states five hundred thirty felonies involving assaults impediments investigations ongoing tips encouraged calling visiting provided contact details