Florida
‘It’s Not Fair’: Florida Vocal Coach Turned Capitol Rioter Gets 6 Years
A U.S. Capitol rioter who spoke up in court to verbally attack federal prosecutors and the entire federal government was sentenced to six years behind bars on Friday for physically attacking police on Jan. 6, 2021.
The woman, Audrey Ann Southard-Rumsey, 54, appeared to deliver her rambling 15-minute diatribe off the cuff, according to CBS News.
“My whole dream of my life has been taken because people have different politics than mine,” Southard-Rumsey said, the outlet reported.
Sitting before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, she added, per CBS: “I have grievances since they don’t listen to us at the polling place. They don’t listen to us little people in the regular world.”
Southard-Rumsey reportedly urged Mehta to think about “what I now have to give up” and concluded by saying, “It’s not fair.”
She had been found guilty on seven felony charges, including three counts of assaulting or resisting law enforcement and three counts of civil disorder.
Mehta reportedly called her a “one-person wrecking crew.” The judge added an optional terrorism enhancement to meet prosecutors’ requested sentence of 72 months, despite generally handing out sentences to Jan. 6 defendants that are shorter than recommended by the government.
The Spring Hill, Florida, resident worked as a vocal coach until her arrest in June 2021.
Prosecutors say she used a flagpole to push against law enforcement trying to defend the Capitol, causing one officer to hit his head on the base of a marble statue.
Southard-Rumsey was also captured on video yelling at Capitol Police, “Tell Pelosi we are coming for that bitch,” referring to the then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“There’s a hundred thousand of us! What’s it going to be?” Southard-Rumsey was heard saying on the video.
Prosecutors noted her threatening social media posts in the wake of the 2020 election, which included “HANG the TRAITORS!” and a message to “go to their work and home, pull them out by their teeth and hang them for treason!”