By Chris Joyner - chris.joyner@ajc.com
ATTACK ON U.S. CAPITOL
Georgia attorney William McCall Calhoun Jr., who boasted of his participation in a “hostile takeover” of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and predicted a civil war if former President Donald Trump was not returned to power, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., to 18 months in prison.
Calhoun, a 60-year-old criminal defense attorney in Americus...(was also ordered) to spend two years on probation and pay $2,000 in restitution.
In a one-day bench trial in March, Calhoun was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Calhoun is one of 25 Jan. 6 defendants with ties to Georgia.
Of those, 20 have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty. The remaining five are awaiting their day in court.
Calhoun was among the initial hundred or so rioters to enter the Capitol, making his way past broken glass and tear gas, through the Capitol Rotunda and up to the outer door of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
“We overran multiple police barricades and busted through,” he posted to social media after the riot. “The first of us who got upstairs kicked in Nancy Pelosi’s office door and pushed down the hall towards her inner sanctum. The mob was howling with rage. Crazy Nancy probably would have been torn into little pieces, but she was nowhere to be seen.”
Federal prosecutors sought twice as much time for Calhoun — 36 months — citing violent, conspiratorial messages Calhoun spread across social media in the months and weeks leading up to the mob violence by Trump supporters and the lawyer’s lack of remorse.
“I’m a lawyer, and a believer in law and order, but I’m here to tell you there are (sic) only one remedy for what ails this country — about 10-20 million of these rioting, racist communists need to die. Then the rest will straighten up,”
Calhoun wrote in a post on the social media platform Parler five days before the 2020 presidential election.
“Until that happens we’re wasting our time.”
Three days after the election, Calhoun posted even more threats.
“If you believe America elected Creepy Joe and his fake Negro (expletive) running mate, then put on your mask and STFU because we’re coming for you (expletive)!” he wrote in a Nov. 6, 2020, post to Parler. “This stolen election is a fraud.
Trump won! And when the Supremes rule, we are going to deal with the communists!
Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out!”
Investigators collected four AR-15 assault-style rifles, four shotguns, a 9 mm automatic pistol and cases of ammunition when they arrested Calhoun shortly after the Capitol riot.
ATTACK ON U.S. CAPITOL
Georgia attorney William McCall Calhoun Jr., who boasted of his participation in a “hostile takeover” of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and predicted a civil war if former President Donald Trump was not returned to power, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Washington, D.C., to 18 months in prison.
Calhoun, a 60-year-old criminal defense attorney in Americus...(was also ordered) to spend two years on probation and pay $2,000 in restitution.
In a one-day bench trial in March, Calhoun was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Calhoun is one of 25 Jan. 6 defendants with ties to Georgia.
Of those, 20 have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty. The remaining five are awaiting their day in court.
Calhoun was among the initial hundred or so rioters to enter the Capitol, making his way past broken glass and tear gas, through the Capitol Rotunda and up to the outer door of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
“We overran multiple police barricades and busted through,” he posted to social media after the riot. “The first of us who got upstairs kicked in Nancy Pelosi’s office door and pushed down the hall towards her inner sanctum. The mob was howling with rage. Crazy Nancy probably would have been torn into little pieces, but she was nowhere to be seen.”
Federal prosecutors sought twice as much time for Calhoun — 36 months — citing violent, conspiratorial messages Calhoun spread across social media in the months and weeks leading up to the mob violence by Trump supporters and the lawyer’s lack of remorse.
“I’m a lawyer, and a believer in law and order, but I’m here to tell you there are (sic) only one remedy for what ails this country — about 10-20 million of these rioting, racist communists need to die. Then the rest will straighten up,”
Calhoun wrote in a post on the social media platform Parler five days before the 2020 presidential election.
“Until that happens we’re wasting our time.”
Three days after the election, Calhoun posted even more threats.
“If you believe America elected Creepy Joe and his fake Negro (expletive) running mate, then put on your mask and STFU because we’re coming for you (expletive)!” he wrote in a Nov. 6, 2020, post to Parler. “This stolen election is a fraud.
Trump won! And when the Supremes rule, we are going to deal with the communists!
Kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out!”
Investigators collected four AR-15 assault-style rifles, four shotguns, a 9 mm automatic pistol and cases of ammunition when they arrested Calhoun shortly after the Capitol riot.
