WASHINGTON — A Minnesota man who repeatedly attacked police officers during the riot at the U.S. Capitol, wielded a police baton as a weapon and stole two riot shields was sentenced Thursday to nearly three years in prison.
Brian Mock, 44, helped remove two police barricades before attacking four officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege. He pushed one of the officers in the chest and knocked him to the ground, where other rioters kicked and punched him.
Mock asked for leniency before Chief Judge James Boasberg sentenced him to two years and nine months in prison.
“I’m not someone who shows up in tactical gear, with tasers and bear spray,” he said. “It’s a moment I got caught up in.”
But the judge said Mock clearly came to Washington, DC, in anticipation of violence on January 6.
“So it’s hard to think that you just came as a bystander,” Boasberg said.
Boasberg convicted Mock of all eleven charges in his indictment, including assault charges, after hearing testimony without a jury. Mock testified and represented himself at his trial in July 2023.
Prosecutors recommended that Mock be sentenced to nine years and one month in prison. He gets credit for the nearly a year he spent in jail awaiting trial.
Mock said prison was a traumatic experience for him. The judge noted that January 6 was a “damaging” experience for the officers he attacked.
“These were torrid moments for them and torrid moments for the country,” Boasberg added.
Mock, a landscaping company owner and former debt collector, was arrested in June 2021 on riot charges. He was not charged with entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Mock recruited his girlfriend and another friend to drive with him to Washington, D.C., for then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. Before leaving, Mock told his eldest son that he might die there.
Mock was the focus of a New York Times article that examined his relationship with his eldest son. Prosecutors cited Mock’s comments to the newspaper as evidence of his lack of remorse and refusal to accept responsibility for his crimes.
“The Court cannot have confidence that Mock would not engage in exactly the same conduct in the future that he believed was justified, if – again – he believed it was a necessary and just response to what he perceived as tyranny,” prosecutors said. wrote in a court filing.
Attorney Michelle Peterson said Mock went to Washington because he believed there were “irregularities” in the 2020 presidential election that needed to be investigated.
“He is not an idealologist, but rather someone with firm beliefs that are on both sides of the political spectrum,” Peterson wrote.
Prosecutors said Mock has a “disturbing history of violence,” including allegations that he assaulted his ex-wife in 2009. The woman later said she decided not to pursue the domestic violence charge because Mock was blackmailing her and threatening to have her fired. according to prosecutors.
The FBI said Mock was also convicted on gun charges in 2010. The conviction stems from a 2009 incident in which Mock allegedly pointed a gun at the heads of three children and threatened to shoot them during his eldest son’s birthday party. Mock refused to leave his home after a SWAT team arrived.
“Instead, he barricaded himself inside with his gun, shaved his head and told police they needed to get a warrant,” prosecutors wrote. “Many hours later, a police negotiator finally lured Mock outside.”
After Mock’s arrest on Jan. 6, the then-girlfriend who joined him in Washington obtained a restraining order against him “because she feared his behavior and possible behavior in the aftermath of their breakup,” prosecutors said.
“Mock cannot claim that violence was limited to one moment in his life or one set of relationships,” they wrote.
The judge who convicted Mock described some of his trial testimony as “stupid,” including his claim that he was referring to singer Nancy Sinatra — and not then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — when he delivered a Jan. 1, 2021 posted a Facebook message. , who said, “Well Nancy, that’s not the worst thing that’s going to happen to you this week.”
About 1,300 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the attack on the Capitol. More than 800 of them have been convicted, with roughly two-thirds receiving prison terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.