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On Friday, a New Jersey gym owner and former MMA fighter plead guilty to assaulting a police officer during the January 6 attack at the Capitol.
The man is the first insurrectionist from the January 6 domestic terrorist attack to be convicted of violence against a police officer.
Scott Fairlamb was seen on body camera footage assaulting a police officer and yelling, “you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing.
Fairlamb, 44, who has been held in jail since his January arrest, entered the guilty plea via Zoom Friday afternoon to one count of obstruction and one count of assaulting an officer.
His sentencing hearing has been set for Sept. 27 at 11 a.m.
As part of the plea, Fairlamb agreed to cooperate with the FBI were they to request an interview, which his attorney asked to be present for.
Fairlamb, who did not comment beyond entering the guilty plea, also agreed to pay a $2,000 restitution for his part in damages to Capitol grounds.
According to his attorney, Harley Breite, the government will seek a sentence of 41 to 51 months for Fairlamb.
“We will be arguing for a significant reduction based on my client’s life history and all he’s done for others throughout his life. My client has been involved his entire life in the community and fundraising activities, including raising money for police officers.”
Fairlamb was indicted earlier this year on a dozen charges, including assaulting a federal officer, entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds with a deadly weapon, and acts of physical violence on the Capitol grounds.
Breite, who will file for the other ten charges against Fairlamb to be dismissed following the guilty plea, said his client “realizes his actions were wrong and wishes to make amends for them and get back to a law-abiding life.”
Videos of the attempted Jan. 6 insurrection also show Fairlamb — who authorities previously said was one of the first people to breach the western front of the Capitol — outside the government building being aggressive and ultimately violent towards officers who were trying to hold off the growing crowd.
“What (do) Patriots do? We f—–’ disarm them and then we storm the f—–’ Capitol,” Fairlamb, who was seen holding a collapsible baton, can be heard saying in one Facebook video according to the criminal complaint filed against him.
Fairlamb, a former mixed martial artist, could also be seen on video forcefully shoving one officer. When the officer pushed Fairlamb’s hand away, Fairlamb then punched him in the face, footage showed.
Prosecutors described Fairlamb as a “danger to the community,” which they said was evidenced by multiple previous assault convictions, his actions at the Capitol, and his social media activity before and after Jan. 6.
They noted that Fairlamb defied stay-at-home orders when he re-opened his gym in May amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
