A Virginia man who smashed windows in the Speaker’s Lobby moments before Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by a Capitol officer during the Jan. 6 riots has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Zachary Jordan Alam, 32, discovered his fate this week. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Donald Trump appointee, sentenced him to 36 months supervised release and ordered him to pay $4,484 in restitution, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Alam told the court he wanted a full pardon after Donald Trump takes office in January and defended his actions, despite knowing they were illegal, according to NBC News’ Ryan Reilly, who has extensively covered these cases and written a book about them titled “Sedition Hunters: How January 6th Broke the Justice System.”
“Trump just won the presidential election less than 48 hours ago,” Alam told the crowd. “Was the 2021 transfer of presidential power justified? “I do not think so.”
In September, Alam was found guilty of assaulting officers, causing civil disorder, destroying government property, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and picketing in a Capitol building.
He assisted other rioters in scaling barriers set up as makeshift ladders outside the Capitol. He entered the building at 2:17 p.m. through a broken window near the Senate Wing emergency exit doors, according to the statement of facts in his criminal case.
Alam spent 30 minutes inside wandering around. On one floor, he attempted to kick open a door. On another floor, he threw a red velvet rope from a balcony at police officers below, according to court documents.
At 2:33 p.m., he was apprehended in the Will Rogers corridor, where he yelled at officers, laughed, argued with other rioters, and joined the mob that broke through the police line.
Later, he went to the Speaker’s Lobby and looked through the glass door as members of Congress and staff exited the chamber.
“I’m going to f— you up,” he yelled at the front of the mob several times in the faces of officers on guard.
Alam approached the doors, punching the glass repeatedly with his fist, and shattering three glass door panes as members.
As he punched the door, Alam pushed up against three officers on guard. Alam rallied the crowd by stating that “the problem” was with the House members. Alam then used a black helmet to break three glass panes.
As he left the area, Alam yelled to other rioters, “We need guns, bro…” “We need guns.
According to the government’s sentencing memo, the defendant was one of the most violent and aggressive rioters that day, warranting 136 months in prison – or more than 11 years.
“As established at trial, he spent the day antagonizing officers and inciting other rioters, culminating in his repeated violent and forceful attempts to reach congressional members and staffers as they frantically evacuated the House floor,” the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors said that when he was arrested on Jan. 30, 2021, at a motel in Denver, Pennsylvania, they discovered evidence of his flight and plans to dispose of evidence linking him to Jan. 6.
They discovered Alam’s journal, in which he recorded his thoughts on that day as well as his plans to flee and conceal his identity, such as opening new bank accounts and using a “burner” phone to hide his identity and location from authorities.
In his sentencing memo, Alam’s attorney, Steven Metcalf, stated that he traveled alone, did not injure anyone, and left the building after Babbitt was shot by an officer in front of him. Metcalf wrote that his client has admitted that his charges are serious.
He also stated that Alam has become a public figure of scrutiny on both the left and the right as a result of the political mayhem that has ensued since January 6, and has been villainized as a “Antifa activist, anarchist, and even a federal agent, banned from so-called patriot groups,” Metcalf wrote.
“Here, Mr. Alam is lost in the world. Metcalf described him as a loner who went to the Capitol on his own and sometimes acted in a way he thought others wanted him to. “Alam wanted to fit in, it did not matter with whom, Alam just wanted to fit in somewhere because he has been rejected by everyone else in his life.”
Alam, a medical school dropout, has a Palestinian father and a Pennsylvania Dutch mother, according to the document. Dropping out of medical school strained his relationship with his father.
After his arrest on January 6, the relationship took another wrong turn. His difficulties included living for a time in a storage unit, where he would sneak in and out so no one would notice him.
He showered at a local gym to prepare for the day and maintain proper hygiene. Then COVID struck, and all gyms closed.
“Something then changed in Alam,” the memo read. “This is how Alam ended up in his position on January 6, 2021.”