WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced a former California police chief convicted of conspiring with others to bring weapons to the U.S. Capitol to more than 11 years in prison Thursday
Alan Hostetter, 58, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in July of four felony counts, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and carrying a dangerous or deadly weapon onto Capitol grounds. One of his co-defendants, Russell Taylor, pleaded guilty in April to obstruction of an official proceeding and agreed to serve as a government witness against him. Four other men indicted alongside Hostetter and Taylor were convicted by a jury last month on the same conspiracy and obstruction counts as Hostetter.
Prosecutors described Hostetter, who served as chief of the La Habra Police Department in California and later became an outspoken advocate against COVID-19 mandates, as the leader of a group dubbed the “DC Brigade” which conspired to bring hatchets, knives, body armor and other tactical gear to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Hostetter recruited the men who came with him to D.C. through his non-profit, the American Phoenix Project, which at the time of his indictment described its goal on its website as “nothing less than a second American Revolution.” In the days leading up to Jan. 6, prosecutors said Hostetter searched for previous examples of mass uprisings that had toppled governments, and on the day of the riot they said he used a bullhorn to incite the mob to do exactly that.
“Through his words and deeds on Jan. 6, Alan Hostetter was a terrorist and it’s important that be said,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony William Mariano said Thursday during Hostetter’s sentencing hearing.
Lamberth, a Reagan nominee who has presided over a number of other high-profile Jan. 6 cases – including the cases of so-called “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley and of activist John Earle Sullivan – rejected a request by the government to impose a four-level enhancement under the federal terrorism guidelines. He did, however, sentence Hostetter to a top-of-the-guidelines term of 135 months, or 11.25 years, in prison.
“As I said when I read the verdict in this case, Mr. Hostetter is not being prosecuted for exercising First Amendment protected speech,” Lamberth said.
Lamberth agreed to allow Hostetter to self-report to the Bureau of Prisons on or after Jan. 5. He’ll also be allowed to travel between his former home in California and Texas, where he has since relocated.
Hostetter, who represented himself at trial, made a lengthy speech before learning his sentence in which he repeatedly described Jan. 6 as an "obvious set up," suggested the Oath Keepers and its founder Stewart Rhodes were tools of the FBI and claimed he was targeted by the government for showing "leadership skills" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hostetter also claimed the crowd on Jan. 6 was filled with "crisis actors" and, most inflammatorily, that Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt was not actually killed.
"As you are aware, I don't believe Ashli Babbit was actually killed that day," Hostetter said. "I believe that was a psy op. That was staged."
Babbitt's mother, Michelle Witthoeft, frequently attends Jan. 6 hearings in support of defendants and was in the public gallery for Hostetter's sentencing. Afterward, she confronted him in the hallway but Hostetter declined to back down — asking her if Babbitt was cremated.
"This feels like it's staged," Hostetter said as he walked away.
Hostetter's sentence stands among the longest handed down in connection with the Capitol riot to date. Rhodes, who he claimed without evidence was an FBI informant, was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside other Oath Keepers and is currently serving an 18-year sentence in federal prison. Multiple leaders of the Proud Boys were sentenced earlier this year to prison terms ranging from 10 to 22 years in prison. Sullivan, who Hostetter has also repeatedly claimed was an actor on Jan. 6, was convicted on all counts at a jury trial overseen by Lamberth last month and was ordered into custody immediately to await sentencing.