Proud Boys leader from Maryland who beat officers in Jan. 6 attack sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison

A Proud Boys leader from Millersville, Maryland, was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison Friday for his role in the attacks on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The punishment was the largest rendered against a Jan. 6 defendant by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has presided over several criminal cases stemming from the insurrection — an event she called the “most consequential and serious in our country’s history,” one that has “created great divides and will continue to.”

Issuing her decision, the judge alluded to “the level of aggression” displayed by Scott Thomas Miller at the Capitol’s Lower West Terrace, a tunnel where some of the most violent confrontations between rioters and law enforcement took place. During the hourslong barricade, Miller, 33, struck officers with metal and wooden poles, threw objects at them and ripped a riot shield away, handing it off to another protester before slipping into the crowd.

Miller pleaded guilty in January to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon. Based on sentencing guidelines, Miller faced 57 to 71 months in prison, with prosecutors advocating for the highest possibility and the defense seeking no more than two years.

Although Miller and his attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth Mullin, attempted to argue he had not planned to go the Capitol, doing so at the last minute “to join the energy” of the day, Chutkan said he went to Washington specifically “to join the fray.”

“You went straight there,” the judge said, referring to the tunnel, “and the whole time you were fighting.”

Miller’s conduct before, during and after the attack was described by Chutkan, Mullin, prosecutors and even his wife as both “disgusting” and “shocking.”

In a sentencing memorandum, Miller said he joined the fascist group while “looking for a community.” And during his time in its ranks, he spoke repeatedly of violence, collected Nazi memorabilia as well as a library of internet memes displaying hatred toward Jews and a “solution” to their presence. Prosecutors said on Jan. 6, 2021, the Proud Boys also shared a list of Jewish-owned stores in Washington D.C. — showing a “direct line between (Miller’s) beliefs and his violence.”

Mullin attempted to explain Miller’s extremism demonstrated “the dangers of groupthink” and said his 2021 departure from the Proud Boys as well as his active involvement in church showed “he continues to evolve.”

However, reflecting on the exhibits submitted by the government — including one meme in which a character proclaimed all children would have to be killed before he would support gun control — Chutkan said she was skeptical someone with such fanatical beliefs could transform so quickly.

Chutkan recommended Miller serve his time in the federal correctional institution Schuylkill in Pennsylvania, the closest prison to where his wife is staying. He will also have to pay $2,000 in restitution.