California man who testified against Capitol riot companion is sentenced to home detention

WASHINGTON (AP) — A California man who organized a “group of fighters” to storm the U.S. Capitol — and later testified against one of his companions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack — was sentenced on Friday to six months of home detention.

Russell Taylor had a knife on his chest and was carrying a hatchet in his backpack when he helped other rioters overrun a police line outside the Capitol.

Taylor, 42, of Ladera Ranch, California, pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to obstruct the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. He was a key witness for prosecutors in the trial of Alan Hostetter, a former police chief who also was convicted of a conspiracy charge.

Prosecutors recommended a prison term of four years and four months for Taylor, but U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth spared him from incarceration and sentenced him to three years of probation. He also ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service.

Lamberth, who has been one of the toughest punishers of the Jan. 6 riot defendants, said a probation sentence “comes once in a lifetime in my courtroom” and warned Taylor that he will be imprisoned if he violates his probation terms.

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