I’d like to introduce you to a real self-entitled insurrectionist idiot by the name of Greg Rubenacker of New York State. I know. Rubenacker was one of those assholes who chased Capitol Hill Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs. Goodman was acting as bait to throw the insurrectionists from finding U.S. Senators hiding in the building. And like every other dumbass at the Jan 6th insurrection, Rubenacker posed for a pic of himself smoking some weed in the Capitol Building.
What could possibly go wrong with that?
Well, it seems that Rubenacker is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. It appears he pleaded guilty without a plea deal in place. But Rubenacker may have thought he could throw himself on the mercy of the judge.
Rubenacker had made the unusual move of pleading guilty without a plea agreement with prosecutors. At the time, Rubenacker’s lawyer Michaelangelo Matera explained that the government’s plea offer required Rubenacker to agree to the government’s recommended sentencing guideline range, which was the same as what Rubenacker would face if he pled under the indictment alone.
At the time of Rubenacker’s plea, Matera said that he would argue at sentencing for a downward departure from the guideline range. That effort failed Thursday, with Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell denying Matera’s request and ordering a sentence within the government’s recommended guideline range of 41 to 51 months.
Howell, a Barack Obama appointee, ultimately sentenced Rubenacker to the low end of that range, and added a three-year probation sentence to his 41 months in prison.
Rubenacker was hoping for home detention only. You have to understand that Rubenacker had a burgeoning career in the music industry, and if he spent any time in prison, it would screw all that up.
Judge Howell was unimpressed.
Howell was unmoved.
“This defendant is a grownup,” she said. “He was a grownup on Jan. 6, 2021. He should have known better.”
Howell had sharp words for what she described as Rubenacker’s sense of “entitlement” in breaching the Capitol that day and that he was “so exhilarated to be there,” and said his actions toward Goodman were particularly egregious.
“Chasing Officer Goodman up the stairs was antagonistic conduct,” Howell said. “It was threatening conduct. It was scary conduct for Officer Goodman, and it would on its own warrant significant punishment.”
I think he deserved more time, but I am glad that Judge Howell busted his chops for being an entitled asshole.