Former Air Force recruit who pepper sprayed officers on Jan. 6 pleads guilty
A 20-year-old North Carolina man is heading straight to jail Friday after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with pepper spray during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Aiden Henry Bilyard of North Carolina pleaded guilty in federal court in Washington, D.C., Friday, admitting to assaulting the officers, according to the plea agreement. He also used a bat to shatter a window during the assault.
Federal Judge Reggie Walton dismissed pleas from Bilyard's attorneys to allow him to return home ahead of his sentencing in February. Instead, he immediately sent Bilyard to jail, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Bilyard was 18 at the time of the attack.
"Eighteen is old enough to know right from wrong," Walton said Friday, according to the newspaper.
"Like my mother used to tell me, 'You make your bed, you sleep in it'," the judge added.
Bilyard was recruited by the Air Force, and was attending basic training when he was interviewed by federal authorities in August 2021. He separated from the Air Force by the time he was indicted last November, according to court documents.
Court documents show Bilyard carried a canister of "home defense pepper gel" the afternoon of Jan. 6, and pointing the nozzle toward officers who were attempting to hold back the mob. He then discharged the chemical towards the group of officers, court documents read. Then, Bilyard and others took on the police line, forcing officers to retreat.
As the afternoon went on, Bilyard accepted a bat and used it to shatter a portion of a window on the Capitol building, crawling through that window into the building.
The judge called Billyard's actions, "chilling and beyond the pale," according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, and possible fines. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 23.
Hundreds of people have been arrested from across the country for their alleged roles in the Capitol insurrection.
