The Department of Justice
- A Tennessee man on Wednesday was sentenced to three years probation for his role in the Capitol riot.
- Prosecutors say Bruce Wayne Ivey was one of the first 15 people to breach the Capitol on January 6.
- Ivey was also one of the first defendants to plead guilty, doing so in June 2021.
A Tennessee man, who prosecutors say was one of the first 15 people to breach the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was sentenced to three years of probation on Wednesday, including 60 days of house arrest for his role in the insurrection.
Bruce Wayne Ivey, 28, pleaded guilty in June 2021 to one count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the US capitol. He initially faced four charges, including entering and remaining in a Capitol building and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a Capitol building. But as the government works to prosecute the 800 people arrested in connection to the attack, federal prosecutors have offered several nonviolent rioters the lesser charge in exchange for their guilty pleas.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper sentenced Ivey to serve 60 days of home detention included in a three-year probationary sentence, as well as $500 in restitution. The judge also ordered Ivey to agree to regular drug testing and mental health treatment, according to WUSA, which was the first to report the results of the sentencing hearing.
Prosecutors had previously requested that Ivey spend 14 days in jail on top of the probationary sentencing, but Cooper declined to issue a split sentence. The federal government did, however, argue that Ivey should get credit for being one of the first Capitol riot defendants to plead guilty and praised him for seeking mental health treatment soon after the siege, WUSA reported.
Prosecutors say surveillance footage from the Capitol on January 6 captured Ivey standing next to Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who was caught on camera using a stolen police riot shield to smash a window. According to charging documents, Ivey then climbed through the broken window and into the building. Prosecutors said Ivey was the 14th rioter to enter the Capitol that day.
An anonymous tipster alerted the FBI to Ivey’s presence at the riot a couple of weeks after the attack, according to court records.
In virtual court on Wednesday, an attorney for Ivey told the judge that his client was prone to “conspiratorial thinking,” according to WUSA. Ivey told the courtroom directly that he “genuinely believed” with every fiber of his being that there was a “global secret state that was plotting to kill off the majority of the human population.”
Ivey reportedly said that he sought mental health treatment just two days after participating in the attack and had to spend months recovering from being crushed in a door frame by the mob during the riot.
“I can guarantee the court I won’t ever be involved in something like this again,” Ivey said, according to WUSA. “I’m taking the steps and doing the work to make sure it won’t ever happen.”
An attorney for Ivey did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
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