PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A federal judge has sentenced a retired Delaware County firefighter to more than four years in prison for throwing a fire extinguisher at police officers protecting the U.S. Capitol during the violent attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
KYW Newsradio’s Denise Nakano spoke with CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who is covering the case.
Denise Nakano: Did this retired firefighter Robert Sanford express any remorse in the courtroom?
Scott MacFarlane: Yeah, of all the Jan. 6 sentencing hearings — I've covered hundreds of them — Robert Sanford of Chester was among the most remorseful in his sentencing, saying he deeply apologizes to the U.S. Capitol Police and to all other firefighters around the country for what he did that day.
Let's note the uniqueness of this case, Denise: 57-year-old Sanford threw a fire extinguisher and injured two police officers with it — hospitalized one of them. A retired firefighter.
The judge, Paul Friedman, just leaned into him, saying: You of all people should have known the damage that could have caused.
He gets 52 months in prison — that's four years and four months. He's already served some time in pretrial detention, so he'll be there at least through 2026 or ’27.
Is this the sentence that prosecutors were hoping for?
Pretty much. It's close. It's the higher end of the range of sentences that were available to this federal judge. We've seen judges go a lot lower or show more leniency than they did for Robert Sanford. But this case is going to get more attention — not just because Sanford was a firefighter, but because of what the judge said at the end, Denise. I haven't heard this yet in any Jan. 6 case.
Judge Paul Friedman said: There are people who need to see deterrence in this case, because they still support Donald Trump, and they may come to Washington if Trump is prosecuted here, in Washington, in the coming months.
That is a provocative thing for a judge to say, and he said it in the case of Robert Sanford of Chester.
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You described the severity of this crime — a retired first responder attacking other first responders. How did Sanford try to explain his behavior that day?
He used a phrase that has become a bit of a refrain here at Jan. 6 prosecutions. He says he was caught up in a “mob mentality.” We have heard that from thousands and thousands of defendants — that they were “caught up in the crowd” or “caught up in the mob.”
He was unequivocal that he knows he has hurt his family. He is missing family events, serving time in prison. He has left the burden on his wife, now that he's going to prison. But the judge said: You should have thought about that before you committed a crime.