Athens County man gets two weeks in prison for Jan. 6 participation, sisters get probation
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Federal prosecutors accused three siblings from Athens County of expressing no remorse for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and interrupting Congress' certification of the 2020 election, but only one will serve any prison time.
Loammi Yazdani-Isfehani and his sisters, Abigail and Loruhamah Yazdani-Isfehani, appeared Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to receive their sentences after each previously pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced them each to two years of probation and to pay $500 in restitution.
Cooper also sentenced Loammi Yazdan-Isfehani, 32, of Albany, a village in Athens County, to 14 days in prison.
Federal prosecutors had asked for 30 days in prison for each of the siblings.
Loammi and one of his sisters, Loruhamah Yazdani-Isfehani, 34, of Logan, both work for the United States Postal Service, court records show. Abigail Yazdani-Isfehani, 28, lives in Albany, Ohio and works as a barista.
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Federal prosecutors said in court documents the siblings traveled to Washington because they did not believe the results of the 2020 presidential election — which President Joe Biden won by more than seven million votes — and to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally to hear then-President Donald Trump speak.
According to prosecutors, the siblings illegally entered the U.S. Capitol building with a flood of other rioters through the Upper West Terrace Doors within minutes of the breach of the location. The siblings ignored plumes of tear gas, sirens blaring, and direct orders from Capitol Police officers to leave the Capitol building and spent about 37 minutes inside, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Loruhamah Yazdani-Isfehani joined the crowd in chanting phrases such as “Whose house, our house,” and “U-S-A!”
The Yazdan-Isfehani siblings later deleted images and video from their electronic devices from their participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to court documents.
Prosecutors asked the judge to consider that the siblings have not shown remorse and that their conduct took place in the context "of a large and violent riot that relied on numbers to overwhelm police officers who were trying to prevent a breach of the Capitol Building, and disrupt the proceedings."
The sisters' defense attorneys in court documents dispute prosecutors' assertions that the women have not expressed remorse for their actions.
"Abby Yazdani looks back at the events of 6th January 2021 with regret," her attorney, Peter Cooper, said in court documents. "She had no intent to engage in any of the behavior that rose to the level we all experienced ... The frenzy left little time for self-reflection: the self-reflection she now employs. She looks back and understands the gravity of being inside the building; what it meant."
In court documents, Cooper blamed the right-wing media and Trump for stoking the flames.
The sentencing memo to the judge for the women's brother, Loammi Yazdan-Isfehani, does not show him expressing remorse.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Three Athens County siblings sentenced for entering Capitol on Jan. 6
