A Lebanon man whose bloody face became a symbol of the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Thursday to seven years and three months in federal prison for assaulting officers during the attack.

Kyle Fitzsimons, a 39-year-old butcher, was convicted of 11 charges in September, including felony charges for assaulting three law enforcement officers.

He was one of hundreds who breached the U.S. Capitol while members of Congress were certifying the 2020 Electoral College vote count, threatening the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

Fitzsimons will serve about five more years behind bars because he already has spent more than two years in a District of Columbia jail awaiting trial and sentencing. He also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $2,000 in restitution, the Department of Justice said.

“I’m happy for Mr. Fitzsimons to move on with his life,” said Jonathan McDonald, Fitzsimons’ federal public defense attorney.

In a statement issued Thursday, Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said Fitzsimons assaulted multiple law enforcement officers during the insurrection. His violent actions included hurling a spear, throwing punches, wrenching on an officer’s body armor and causing a career-ending shoulder injury to an officer.

“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election,” Graves said.

Graves said that Fitzsimons, during a span of five minutes, assaulted five law enforcement officers. During that spree of violence he wore a white butcher’s jacket, a fur pelt and carried an unstrung bow, which he hurled at officers.

Graves also explained the widely circulated photos of Fitzsimons’ bloody face. Fitzsimons twice charged a group of police officers, “wildly swinging his fists,” Graves said. He eventually retreated, but only after being inadvertently bloodied by another rioter’s unsuccessful attack on those same officers. As Fitzsimons left the Capitol grounds, he encouraged others to “get in there” and fight the police like he had.

Federal prosecutors asked in May that Fitzsimons serve 15 years behind bars, one of the longest suggested sentences involving the Capitol breach. They called Fitzsimons “one of the most violent and aggressive participants” and said they wanted a sentence long enough to deter others from engaging in political violence.

McDonald didn’t make a specific sentencing request before Thursday’s hearing but pointed to more than a dozen other participants with similar charges who were sentenced to less than 12 ½ years, some less than a year. McDonald said that prosecutors were suggesting a sentence closer to what the Jan. 6 organizers received.

Fitzsimons was convicted after a four-day bench trial in D.C.

In September, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras found him guilty on all 11 charges, including seven felonies – one count of obstruction of an official proceeding; four counts of assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, including two involving a dangerous weapon or bodily injury; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.

Fitzsimons also was found guilty of four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building or grounds and committing an act of violence in the Capitol Building or grounds.

During the trial, Contreras watched surveillance and cellphone videos of Fitzsimons’ multiple assaults against police officers outside the West Terrace of the Capitol. Wearing a white butcher’s jacket and a fur pelt, he carried a 6-foot unstrung bow that he threw at officers like a spear.

NewsCenter Maine reported that during the trial Contreras took note of Fitzsimons’ obsession with former President Trump and his call to action.

“Mr. Fitzsimons’ fervent belief in the lies he was being told about the election is truly saddening, and to be sure much of the blame for the offense that day rests with the people in positions of power who spread those lies,” Contreras said.

Fitzsimons hit Beaver in the head and was seen on video minutes later swiping at Nguyen’s gas mask and exposing the officer to a cloud of bear spray.

Videos also showed Fitzsimons pulling on Gonell’s shoulder as Gonnell was helping another officer who fell. Gonell testified in August that Fitzsimons pulled on his arm so forcefully that he later needed surgery. Prosecutors said the injury led Gonell to resign from the Capitol Police.

Twenty seconds went by before another officer struck Fitzsimons, causing him to release Gonell, prosecutors said.

So far, Fitzsimons is the only Maine resident who has gone to trial in connection the Capitol insurrection.

Several others with Maine ties have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.

Glen Mitchell Simon, a former Minot resident who moved to Georgia, was sentenced to eight months in prison in August after pleading guilty to disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area.

Nicholas Hendrix, of Gorham, was sentenced to 30 days in prison in December for parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Two Maine men were charged this year. David Ball, of Wells, was charged in March with four misdemeanors and faces up to three years in prison. Christopher Maurer, 45, of Biddeford, pleaded not guilty on May 18 to seven counts of violence and civil disorder.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.

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