Hitler Admirer Receives 4 Years in Capitol Attack

Hatchet Speed said Jewish people control President Biden
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 8, 2023 6:25 PM CDT
Hitler Admirer Receives 4 Years in Capitol Attack
This booking photo shows Jan. 6 convict Hatchet Speed.   (Alexandria Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

A former Navy reservist who told an undercover FBI agent about his admiration for Adolf Hitler and discussed a plan to "wipe out" the nation's Jewish population was sentenced on Monday to four years in prison for storming the US Capitol. US District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Virginia resident Hatchet Speed to serve the four-year sentence after he completes a separate three-year prison term for a conviction on firearms offenses, court records show. The FBI recorded Speed's conversations with the undercover agent more than a year after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The agent posed as "a like-minded individual" while meeting with Speed at least three times in 2022, the AP reports.

Speed, 41, was "deeply worried" about Democrat Joe Biden's presidency and believed false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Republican incumbent Donald Trump, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. He told the undercover agent that he believes Jewish people control Biden. Speed expressed his admiration for Hitler during the recorded conversation, calling him "one of the best people that’s ever been on this earth." He also “outlined a plan to enlist Christians to wipe out the country's entire Jewish population," prosecutors said in a court filing.

McFadden heard trial testimony without a jury before convicting Speed of all five charges in his indictment, including a felony count of obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote. The judge also convicted Speed of four misdemeanors. Speed's four-year sentence matched the prison term recommended by prosecutors. McFadden also sentenced Speed to three years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to pay a $10,000 fine plus $2,000 in restitution. Speed was a member of the Proud Boys, joining the far-right extremist group in 2020, according to prosecutors.

(More Capitol riot stories.)

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