Keith Packer (shown here January 13, 2021) of Newport News, Va., stormed the US Capitol wearing an anti-fascist “Camp Auschwitz” sweater over a shirt with Nazi theme. He was sentenced to 75 days in prison.
Western Tidewater Regional Jail via AP
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Western Tidewater Regional Jail via AP
Keith Packer (shown here January 13, 2021) of Newport News, Va., stormed the US Capitol wearing an anti-fascist “Camp Auschwitz” sweater over a shirt with Nazi theme. He was sentenced to 75 days in prison.
Western Tidewater Regional Jail via AP
One Virginia man bursts into US Capitol while wearing a protesting “Camp Auschwitz” sweater over a Nazi themed shirt was sentenced to 75 days in prison on Thursday.
Robert Keith Packer, 57, declined to speak with US District Judge Carl Nichols before his sentencing during a hearing held by videoconference. The judge noted the “extremely offensive” message on Packer’s shirt before imposing the sentence.
“It seemed to me that he was wearing that shirt for a reason. We don’t know what the reason is because Mr. Packer hasn’t told us,” Nichols said.
Photos of Packer wearing the sweater went viral after January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. When FBI agents asked him why he was wearing it, he was “fat” and replied, “Because I’m cold,” a federal prosecutor said in a court filing.
Packer’s sweatshirt depicts a human skull above the words “Camp Auschwitz.” The word “Employee” is on the back. It also features the phrase “Work Brings Freedom”, a rough translation of the German words above the entrance to Auschwitz, the concentration camp in occupied Poland where the Nazis killed more than 1 million men and women. and children.
Sweaters lie on top of more antiseptic clothing
Assistant US Attorney Mona Furst said on Wednesday she learned that Packer also wore an “SS” T-shirt – a reference to the Nazi paramilitary organization founded by Adolf Hitler – under his shirt. on January 6. Packer “attacked the government. gave him the freedom to express those beliefs, no matter how abhorrent or evil they may be” as he joined the crowd. supported then-President Donald Trump, the prosecutor said.
Packer “wants to support the overthrow of our republic and keep an authoritarian ruler in place by force and violence,” Furst told the judge.
Defense attorney Stephen Brennwald admitted that Packer’s outfit was “seriously offensive” but argued that it was not an element of conviction because he had the freedom of speech to wear it.
“It was horrible for him to wear that shirt that day. I just didn’t think it was appropriate to give him extra time because it was appropriate because he was allowed to wear it,” he said.
Brennwald added that Packer was offended and angry at being branded as a white supremacist “because he didn’t see himself that way at all.” Defense attorneys said Packer wants him to sue House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for linking him to white supremacy during a news conference days after the riots.
Packer declined to speak during Thursday’s hearing because he didn’t want his words “out there” on social media, his attorney told the judge.
Packer one of more than 850 people charged with federal charges in connection with January 6
Packer, a resident of Newport News, Virginia, pleaded guilty in January to misdemeanor marching, protesting or taking pictures in a Capitol building, with a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Packer told the FBI he was about 10 to 12 feet away from a rioter, Ashli Babbitt, when a police officer shot her dead as she tried to climb through the broken window of a barred door leads to the Speaker’s Lobby.
“He told agents he heard gunshots and saw her fall back from the window she was trying to climb through,” Furst wrote in the court filing.
Furst said Packer did not express any remorse in his interview with the FBI.
“He was more interested in relaying how he received hate mail and how he was hounded by the media for interviews,” she added.
Packer’s sister, Kimberly Rice, wrote to the judge for leniency. She said her brother’s sweater “could be seen as less aesthetically pleasing” but added that “freedom of speech” is not a crime.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 75 days in prison, followed by 36 months of probation. Brennwald asked for a probationary sentence without jail time.
FBI agents arrested Packer a week after the riot. He remains free pending sentencing.
Packer is a self-employed plumber. Prosecutors say he has a long criminal record, with about 21 convictions, mostly for drunk driving and other motor vehicle offences.
More than 870 people have been charged federally for their conduct on January 6. About 400 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. More than 250 riot defendants were convicted, with about half receiving prison sentences ranging from seven days to 10 years.
