📸 “Foot-on-Desk” Rioter Snags 4½ Years: “Bigo” Barnett’s Eventful Desk-sitting Saga 😮
TL;DR: Richard “Bigo” Barnett, the notorious Jan. 6th rioter, known for his audacious feet-on-the-desk snapshot in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices, was sentenced to 4½ years of jail time this Wednesday. He’d even tried to profit from the infamous image, selling autographed versions for a cool hundred bucks 💰. An ardent critic of federal prosecutors and police, he presented a spectacle throughout his trial, spinning a web of lies around the incident’s circumstances. His array of felonies and misdemeanors included obstruction of an official proceeding and brandishing an odd combo of a stun device and a metal flagpole. A South Dakota canine training prison stay is in the cards for this ex-firefighter and bull rider 🐶🔒.
“Bigo” Barnett, the man whose iconic foot-propped snapshot in Nancy Pelosi’s office has been branded on our minds since the Jan. 6th Capitol riot. This man of action, according to the prosecutors, meticulously planned his trip to Washington and demonstrated a determination that he “ain’t going down easy.” You’ve got to wonder, was it just mischief, or was there something more? 🤔
Despite the prosecution’s request for a more than seven-year sentence, the federal judges seem to have a knack for going against the grain, ruling a sentence less than the suggested 80% of the time for the Jan. 6th cases. And Barnett was no exception, receiving only 54 months with a cheeky bonus of three years supervision after release.
On the day of the riot, our dear Bigo not only found his way into the House Speaker’s office but also swiped an envelope bearing Pelosi’s digital signature, replacing it with a quarter to “mitigate the theft.” The audacity, right? To make matters more cinematic, he even left a note for Pelosi: “Nancy, Bigo was here, you b—–.” 😳📝
However, in the courtroom, we got to see a slightly softer side of Bigo. Expressing regret, he admitted, “I probably shouldn’t have put my feet on the desk…It wasn’t who I am.” The remorseful Bad-boy Bigo also stated he’d apologize to Pelosi in person if he could. Do you think it’s genuine remorse, or just courtroom tactics? 🎭
Surprisingly, post-riot, Bigo found himself playing a dog-eat-dog game with a D.C. police officer over his forgotten flagpole. Yet, he managed to leave the Capitol, envelope in hand, encouraging others to follow suit and head inside.
In court, the judge threw some major shade, stating, “You were an active participant, not a bystander caught up in this.” Despite Barnett’s persistence in proclaiming his innocence and voicing an intention to appeal his conviction, the judge didn’t mince his words: “For all the people who follow ‘Bigo,’ they need to know they cannot act as they did on January 6th without serious repercussions.”
Now here’s where it gets interesting: Despite the judge’s harsh words, Barnett remained unflappable. You’ve got to wonder, was it all worth it for him? Did this notorious infamy, this viral fame, give him what he wanted? Or did it simply land him in the doghouse…literally, since he requested to be assigned to a prison with dog training classes. Who knows, maybe we’ll soon see “Bigo’s Dog Training Academy” go viral 🐕🦺🎓
