DOJ seeks 14 years in prison for rioter who tased Officer Fanone

May 11, 2023

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says the California man who drove a stun gun into the base of former DC Police Officer Mike Fanone's neck during the Jan. 6 riot should serve 14 years in prison – not just for being one of the "most violent" defendants from that day, but also because of his planning and preparation beforehand.

Daniel Rodriguez, 39, of Panorama City, California, pleaded guilty in February to four felony counts of conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents and inflicting bodily injury on an officer with a dangerous weapon. Rodriguez was scheduled to be sentenced June 21 by U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson.

Two other man have already been sentenced in connection with the brutal assault on Fanone, during which he lost consciousness and suffered a heart attack. Albuquerque Cosper Head, the Tennessee construction worker who grabbed Fanone in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel and dragged him into the mob, was sentenced in October to more than seven years in prison. A month earlier, Kyle Young, an Iowa man who helped restrain Fanone during the assault – and also handed Rodriguez the stun gun he used on Fanone – also received more than seven years in prison.

Rodriguez, who repeatedly drove the stun gun into Fanone's neck while others were holding him down – leaving permanent scars – should serve twice that, prosecutors said in a sentencing memo Friday. As much as the assault on Fanone warranted that lengthy prison time, prosecutors said, Rodriguez's pre-planning for violence also deserved it.

The DOJ's sentencing memo for Albuquerque Head includes this photo of the scars former Officer Mike Fanone received from being repeatedly tased on Jan. 6. pic.twitter.com/DwXXxzsKkz

Following former President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 election, prosecutors said Rodriguez began planning for "revolution" in a Telegram group chat he administered titled "PATRIOTS MAGA Gang." The group included Rodriguez's co-defendant Edward Badalian who was convicted in a bench trial in April of felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. Rodriguez used the chat, prosecutors said, to urge others to prepare for violence to keep Trump in power.

"The reason for this violent rhetoric and extensive planning was also clear: Rodriguez believed the 2020 Presidential election had been stolen, and those responsible should be in prison or dead," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall wrote in her sentencing memo. "And this mistaken belief gave him the authority, in his mind, to plan an assault on anyone who stood in his way."

Paschall said Rodriguez's commitment to the cause was clear in the hundreds of messages he wrote in the group, including one on Dec. 14, 2020 – the day electors meet in all 50 states and cast their votes for president.

"We won't allow criminals to run this country anymore," Rodriguez wrote. "1776 Forever! If it's the last thing some of us ever do."

In another message, Rodriguez wrote, "Congress can hang. I’ll do it. Please let us get these people dear God."

Rodriguez ultimately traveled to D.C. on Jan. 6 with a group of people he had encouraged to bring weapons – including knives, bear spray and axe handles. He then made his way to the front lines on the west side of the Capitol where rioters were attacking badly outnumbered police. At the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, Rodriguez shoved a long wooden pole at the police line. It was there when Young handed Rodriguez the stun gun and showed him how to use it. A short time later, Rodriguez used the stun gun on Fanone.

"With his electroshock weapon in hand, Rodriguez reached his arm towards the side of Officer Fanone's neck, landing the device on the side of Officer Fanone's neck, below the left ear of Officer Fanone's helmet," Paschall wrote. "Officer Fanone screamed in pain. Officer Fanone then jerked his head back, recoiling from the shock, and pulled his face away from Rodriguez briefly. Despite Officer Fanone's efforts to get away, Rodriguez struck again, placing the electroshock weapon on the back of Officer Fanone's neck, below the ‘M’ of the ‘MPDC’ logo on his helmet. The electrical spark of the weapon rang out… and Officer Fanone screamed again."

Fanone, who testified before the January 6th Committee that he believed he was going to die during the assault, spoke during Young's sentencing hearing in September about the assault's lingering effects on him.

"The assault on me… cost me my career," Fanone said. "It cost me my faith in law enforcement and many of the institutions I spent two decades of my life serving."

After the assault on Fanone, and while still on the grounds of the Capitol, Rodriguez wrote to his Telegram group and bragged about what he’d done.

"I did so much f***ing s*** rn and got away tell you later," he wrote, adding later, "Tazzzzed the f*** out of the blue."

In addition to 14 years in prison – which, if granted, would tie Pennsylvanian Peter Schwartz for the second-longest Capitol riot sentence to date – prosecutors said Rodriguez should be ordered to pay a $96,927 fine to cover Fanone's medical bills and leave.

In their sentencing memo, which asked for a significantly shorter sentence of approximately 5.5 years in prison, Rodriguez's attorneys said Rodriguez had been preyed on by the former president's "incendiary lies." Like other rioters, they said, Rodriguez – who grew up without a father – "deeply respected and idolized Trump."

"He saw the former president as the father he wished he had," Rodriguez's attorneys wrote.

Rodriguez's attorneys, assistant federal public defenders Rebecca A. Levy, Margaret W. Lambrose and Katherine Tanaka, said Rodriguez found meaning and community in Trump's MAGA movement that he hadn't before had in his life. Rodriguez in fact "trusted Trump blindly" and admired him so much he referred to him as "dad" in his social media chats.

"Dad's big day," Rodriguez wrote in one message about Jan. 6. "Gotta get ready to save America."

Rodriguez's attorneys also quoted Fanone, who wrote in his book, "Hold the Line," that Rodriguez was "so desperate for a sense of belonging that he became an easy mark for a cult."

Rodriguez's sentencing recommendation was lower the one calculated in his pre-sentencing report because he argues he should not receive the same enhancement for restraining Fanone that Head and Young did. Regardless of his sentence, Rodriguez will receive credit for the more than two years he has already spent on pretrial detention.