WASHINGTON - A January 6 defendant caught on camera using a bullhorn to encourage fellow pro-Trump rioters to steal law enforcement officers' guns took a secret plea deal and was sentenced to 212 years in prison this year, the Justice Department and his legal team acknowledged Monday for the first time in a filing unsealed Monday.
Samuel Lazar, a pro-Trump rioter, shot police officers with pepper spray on Jan. 6, 2021, the government said.
On Wednesday, Lazar was arrested on July 27, 2021, the day of the first public hearing on the Jan. 6 committee, which featured the testimony of four police officers who protected the Capitol during the attack.
In a sealed proceeding in March 2022, Lazar pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, as well as aiding and abetting, according to the joint filing unsealed Monday. Lazar was sentenced to 30 months in prison, or 212 years, in federal prison on March 17, 2023.
NBC News first reported on Lazar's sentencing the day it happened, after it spotted members of his family at the courthouse. Lazar's family members would not say about what happened during the proceeding and what sentence Lazar received. The Justice Department declined to comment on Lazar's case.
The filing was released after a media coalition, including NBC News, filed a petition. The coalition filed a motion to unseal in April and a new motion last week after U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the original request.
The extent of Lazar's cooperation with the government is unknown.
Video shows Lazar on Jan. 6 yelling, s get their guns! A bullhorn is heard as rioters fight with police on the west side of the Capitol. Video from later this day shows Lazar, accompanied by his sister, talking about assaults on law enforcement officers.
In the joint filing, the Justice Department and Lazar's defense team requested 30 days to redact the documents before their release, saying 'public dissemination of the information the Defendant supplied could impair or interfere with ongoing investigations and because Defendant named individuals responsible for criminal conduct who may not have been charged.