dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Beaver County

“Neither man had voted for or supported former President Donald Trump, Wilson wrote.”

Two Beaver County men who roamed around inside the U.S. Capitol for 25 minutes during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots and bragged about smoking marijuana in the building will serve 30 days behind bars.

Mitchell P. Vukich, 26, of New Brighton, and Nicholas Perretta, 27, of Baden, were sentenced in a video conference Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan. Both men pleaded guilty in September to a single, misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

The judge allowed both men to self-report to begin serving their sentences.

During the sentencing hearing, defense attorneys for both men asked for probation, telling the court that their clients did not participate in any violence or destruction that day. Instead, they simply wandered through the Capitol building.

But Chutkan, who acknowledged both men have lived productive lives and have no criminal records, was not swayed.

“This was a violent, attempted overthrow of the government,” she said.

Simply the presence of Vukich and Perretta in the Capitol that day, the judge said, lent numbers to — and encouraged — other members of the mob who were violent and destructive.

“They emboldened the rioters who came behind them,” she said. “Their actions were an assault on the American people and a democratic institution,” and “deserve more than just a slap on the wrist.”

She suggested that the defendants think about congressional staff members forced to hide under their desks that day and who called their families, not knowing if they would ever see them again.

Chutkan added that the men carried eye protection with them, knowing they were likely to face resistance from law enforcement.

Then after the riot, the judge continued, they bragged about what happened in text messages to their friends, writing that they were among the first 15 into the building, and that they smoked a blunt in the Capitol.

Both men expressed remorse.

Perretta apologized to law enforcement, Capitol staff and members of Congress, acknowledging that he embarrassed himself and his family.

“Although I can’t change the past, I can learn from it and be a better man,” he said.

Vukich, who is employed by a bottling company doing machinery repairs, said he learned a valuable lesson.

“My mere presence there added to the numbers of the crowd and emboldened them,” he said.

Mark Wilson, who represented Vukich, said his client wants to make up for his actions to the American people, and has come to be appalled and embarrassed by what he did.

Vukich, he said, was at the top of his class in high school and earned a character award from his football team. He did not go to the Capitol with the intent to cause harm, Wilson said.

Instead, according to a sentencing memorandum, Vukich and Perretta attended the rally because they thought it would be an important moment in history. Neither man had voted for or supported former President Donald Trump, Wilson wrote.

After attending the rally, Vukich and Perretta walked with the crowd to the Capitol out of curiosity, the court filing said.

Both defense attorneys, in arguing for probation, noted that their clients immediately cooperated with the investigation, confessed to the FBI and quickly arranged to plead guilty.

“He was aware it was a chaotic, violent event,” defense attorney Carmen Hernandez said of her client, Perretta. “He walked in an open door. It wasn’t locked. I think jail in this case is unnecessary.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Strain asked the court to sentence the defendants to 30 days incarceration.

“What happened that day is despicable and horrifying,” he said. “Every rioter shares some responsibility for what happened.”

https://triblive.com/local/regional/beaver-county-men-get-30-days-behind-bars-for-their-participation-in-capitol-riot/