A Pennsylvania smoothie shop owner who participated in the Jan. 6 riot on admitted on Thursday to assaulting three police officers, including one who died a day later. Julian Khater, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous weapon. He faces a term of 78 to 97 months when he’s sentenced in December; it’s likely to be one of the longest yet handed down over the insurrection. His co-defendant and childhood friend, George Tanios, pleaded guilty on July 27 to two reduced misdemeanor charges. Among those who Khater and Tanios sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant was Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, who suffered two strokes before his death. A medical examiner ruled that Sicknick had died of natural causes, but that the events of Jan. 6 “played a role.” The U.S. Capitol Police subsequently said that Sicknick had “died in the Line of Duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”
