A Marine who stormed the US Capitol and was accused of flashing a Nazi salute in front of the building was sentenced on Friday to nearly five years in prison. Tyler Bradley Dykes of South Carolina was an active-duty Marine when he grabbed a police riot shield from two police officers and used it to push through police lines with the mob of Donald Trump's supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Dykes, who pleaded guilty in April to assault charges, previously was convicted of a crime stemming from the 2017 white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dykes was transferred to federal custody in 2023 after serving a six-month sentence in a state prison, the AP reports.
US District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Dykes, 26, to four years, nine months of imprisonment, the Justice Department said. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of five years, three months. "He directly contributed to some of the most extreme violence on the Capitol's east front," prosecutors wrote. Dykes' attorneys requested a two-year prison sentence. "Tyler hates his involvement in the Capitol riot," they wrote. "He takes complete responsibility for his actions. Tyler apologizes for those actions." Dykes denied that he performed a Nazi salute on Jan. 6, but prosecutors say it was captured on video.
Dykes traveled to Washington, DC, to attend Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally with two friends. After they parted ways, Dykes ripped snow fencing from the ground and pulled aside bicycle rack barricades as he approached the Capitol. He joined other rioters in breaking through a line of police officers defending stairs to the East Rotunda doors. "After reaching the top of the stairs, Dykes celebrated his accomplishment, performing what appears to be the Sieg Heil salute," prosecutors wrote. He used the shield to assault officers in the building, forcing them to retreat, prosecutors said. Dykes was discharged from the military in May 2023 under "other than honorable" conditions.
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