A Texas woman who pleaded guilty to assaulting police during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 17 months in prison on Thursday.
Dana Jean Bell’s sentencing is just one among scores of other defendants set to face accountability for their roles in the attack on the U.S. Capitol in the coming weeks, even as former President Donald Trump attempts to rewrite the history of that day in his bid for reelection – including describing it as a “day of love” during a town hall Wednesday.
Thursday’s sentencing hearing, however, painted a much different picture of the day’s events.
Then-62-year-old Bell was considered to be a particularly disruptive rioter who engaged in “prolonged, abusive, and violent” attacks on law enforcement officers, including one that ultimately took his own life following injuries caused by the insurrection, prosecutors said.
Handed down by D.C. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, this sentence is less than the 27 months of incarceration requested by the U.S. government, and the imposition of a fine was waived. Bell is required to spend an additional 3 years under supervised release, in addition to paying $2,000 in restitution and the mandatory $100 special assessment.
Protesters clash with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
During the sentencing trial, the prosecution displayed multiple video clips where Bell can be seen directing a slew of obscenities and offensive gestures towards law enforcement officers, including Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith who took his own life after suffering brain trauma and concussions – injuries that the D.C. Police and Firefighters’ Retirement Relief Board ruled to be the “sole and direct cause of his death.”
Smith’s widow, Erin Smith, was in attendance for the sentencing trial where she delivered an emotional victim impact statement and requested for Bell to receive the maximum prison sentence.
“Instead of becoming a mother at the age of 35, I became a widow,” she said. “No matter the sentence you decide upon, please remember that I now live a sentence of life without Jeffrey.”
She emphasized that her husband “died protecting democracy itself,” and that he didn’t get the chance to continue serving the citizens of D.C. “because of Dana Bell.”
Though Bell was not the direct cause of Smith’s injuries, the prosecution emphasized how “her verbal barrage is a prominent feature in his body-cam footage from that day” and Erin Smith added that Bell’s actions left her husband “vulnerable.”
The body-cam footage shows Bell shaking her hand in Officer Smith’s face and screaming, “Get a real job, get a real job! We don’t support y’all anymore. Now NO ONE supports you! Nobody!”
Judge Kelly called Bell’s conduct “utterly disrespectful,” referencing her treatment of law enforcement officers, her disregard for the symbolic Capitol building and her role in disrupting the peaceful transition of power. He also found her violence to “set [her] apart” from many of the other rioters, and her ability to make it as far as the Speaker’s Lobby was “notable.”
Demonstrators swarm the U.S. Capitol building during a protest in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2021.
Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Also in court attendance was another MPD officer whom Bell screamed at, shoved and delivered the middle finger to during the attack. The prosecution added that she grabbed his equipment, “want[ing] to hold onto his baton and disable him.”
The videos also depict Bell shaking police barricades, pulling the East Rotunda doors open while an officer lay trapped behind the door, hurling a stanchion across the floor, inserting herself among officers treating a gunshot wound, disobeying police orders, shoving and elbowing officers, and clinging onto police equipment.
She was even seen attacking a news crew before punching and kicking bystanders who attempted to intervene.
Referencing a forensic psychological report, the defense argued that Bell exhibited a “generally calm and friendly” demeanor, and only turned violent after witnessing another rioter, Ashley Babbitt, get shot.
Judge Kelly recalled being “dumbfounded” by this report, even “wondering if it was some sort of joke.” He explained how such a report did not demonstrate medical opinion in any capacity, and he did not accept the explanation about Babbitt being the cause of Bell’s violence “because it’s not consistent with evidence.”
In addition to highlighting this discrepancy, the prosecution referred to other instances in which the defendant’s characterization of Bell’s actions were considered “simply not true,” for which Bell’s lawyer took accountability.
“That’s on me,” he said. “I’m the one responsible for the language.” He added that Bell’s actions and conduct were “contextual,” and acknowledged that he sees “differently” from the prosecution.
In a tear-filled testimony, Bell explained how she was “ashamed and very sorry.”
“My whole life, I was a die-hard supporter of police,” she said, even referring to herself as “obsessive” and calling them her “heroes.”
Bell’s husband also spoke on behalf of her character, emphasizing how she even supported police in 2020 when anti-police sentiment was rampant.
While the videos played, Bell repeatedly turned her head and averted her gaze away from the footage. She also personally apologized to Erin Smith multiple times, frequently looking back at her with tear-filled eyes.
“It’s my choices, my decisions,” she added, extending her apologies to the government as a whole. “I fully accept responsibility for my criminal conduct that day.”
Though the prosecution questioned Bell’s character, the judge accepted her remorsefulness and took her early admission of guilt into consideration when determining her sentence.
The court also acknowledged Bell’s lack of criminal record, although her actions were still considered premeditated.
“No one denies that she intentionally and purposefully entered the Capitol,” Bell’s own lawyer acknowledged.
Federal prosecutors have charged approximately 1,532 defendants and secured prison sentences for more than 615 people involved in the Capitol attack, according to figures released this month by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C.
