Federal judge denies U.S. Capitol rioter from Sussex County a new sentence

A federal judge last week denied a "meritless" request for a new sentence filed by a Sussex County man and former gym owner serving a 41-month prison term for assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth in Washington, D.C., rejected Scott Fairlamb's claims that his "ineffective" attorney told him to lie, withheld evidence from him and misled him with promises he would get a more lenient sentence, according to a court filing on Feb. 1.

Fairlamb, 45, of Hardyston, was sentenced in November 2021 after admitting he shoved and punched a D.C. Metropolitan police officer when he breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 with other rioters who sought to keep President Donald Trump in power. Fairlamb, who once owned Fairlamb Fit in Pompton Lakes, also admitted to obstructing a governmental function and is serving his nearly 3½-year federal sentence at FCI Butner Medium II, a medium-security prison for men in North Carolina. Federal inmates must serve 85% of their term before being eligible for release on parole, and coupled with time already served and other credits — such as good behavior and completing academic programs — Fairlamb is slated for a potential December 2023 release, prison records show.

Fairlamb's sentence at the time was the most severe punishment given to anyone charged on the terror-filled day, likely having set a benchmark for future cases. But despite arguments by the former mixed martial arts competitor that he didn't have a fair fight in the courtroom, a federal judge found that none of his constitutional rights were violated and his arguments did not "deserve encouragement to proceed further" to an evidentiary hearing.

Fairlamb's arguments call out his prior attorney, Harley Breite, who handled his plea and sentencing proceedings. Breite, who had known the family before being hired by Fairlamb, appeared a firm advocate for his client throughout the proceedings, passionately telling the New Jersey Herald his client meant no harm and had no ill will toward police. At Fairlamb's sentencing, he urged the judge to consider a sentence of time served or home detention in lieu of prison.

But it was purportedly what happened behind the scenes that led Fairlamb to hire high-profile Washington, D.C.-based attorneys Dennis Boyle and Blerina Jasari to draft his motion to the federal court for a new sentence, claiming the Paterson-based Breite was "incompetent."

Breite told the New Jersey Herald this week that Fairlamb's claims, which were affirmed as baseless by the federal court, were an attack on his integrity.

"Apparently, the tears Mr. Fairlamb shed before the judge and the remorse he claimed while under oath were disingenuous," Breite said. "Despite previous court rulings that all of Mr. Fairlamb’s rights were protected, he remains unwilling to accept truths of his actions that day and thereafter."

Several attempts seeking comment from Boyle and Jasari were left unanswered.

Why Fairlamb's arguments failed, in judge's view

The bar is set quite high for a court's evaluation of an attorney's actions to show that if not for their unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different, Lamberth said in his ruling.

It was highly improbable, the judge wrote, that Fairlamb would have chosen to go to trial, because the video evidence against him was "overwhelming" and he was facing a prison term at least four times longer than what his attorney had negotiated. Prosecutors introduced videos that Fairlamb uploaded to social media on Jan. 6, as well as body-camera footage from police officers and other rioters that showed him wielding a collapsible baton and yelling at officers, "What [do] Patriots do? We [expletive] disarm them and then we storm the [expletive] Capitol." His menacing behavior continued after Jan. 6, when he recorded and posted his own videos threatening to return to the Capitol, prosecutors argued.

Fairlamb, in a filing by Boyle and Jasari in September, claimed that before he signed his plea agreement in August 2021, Breite "promised that he would be home this time next year," an argument that fell flat because, according to the judge, it wasn't a "plainly incorrect" statement, given Fairlamb's early acceptance of guilt, which weighs in his favor, and the fact that he was cooperative with the government's investigation.

Fairlamb also said he agreed to an interview with the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack because his attorney told him that doing so would be his "golden ticket" to a lesser sentence. But the interview, and the result, never happened, Fairlamb claimed. Lamberth wrote that it was not clear if the interview actually took place, but said it may have been the D.C. jail that thwarted the interview.

Regardless, Fairlamb knew prosecutors were not considering a lesser sentence if he cooperated with the committee, the judge wrote, and was told numerous times, and signed documents acknowledging that his plea agreement came without promises, understandings or agreements.

Boyle and Jasari also said in their motion that Breite never shared evidence with their client, including a video that surfaced after he signed his plea deal that showed him rendering assistance to four Capitol police officers on Jan. 6. But the argument was contradictory, the judge said, because Breite used those videos to his client's advantage verbally in court and in a pre-sentence document.

Boyle and Jasari appealed Fairlamb's conviction in November 2021 but moved to withdraw the appeal in early January 2022, stating in records that it was "no longer necessary." The court construed the motion as a voluntary dismissal.

At the time of his sentencing, Fairlamb shed tears, expressing remorse for his actions, and detailed how his "irresponsible, reckless behavior" ruined his family's reputation. The judge, while finding Fairlamb's remarks sincere, could not shake the severity of the crime and the impact it had on the officer he assaulted.

Lamberth, during the sentencing, praised Fairlamb for taking a plea deal, remarking that had he gone to trial, "I don't think there's any jury that would have acquitted you."

Lori Comstock can be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Capitol riot: Sussex County NJ man denied new sentence