Howard County Man Sentenced To Prison For 2021 U.S. Capitol Breach

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A 23-year-old Cooksville man has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers and obstructing an official proceeding during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Matthew Ryan Miller's actions and others' conduct "disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the presidential election."

According to court documents, as part of a mob gathered on the west side of the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, Miller threw a full beer can in the direction of the Capitol building and at the police protecting it. At the time, he was draped in a Confederate flag. Miller then used a section of temporary barriers as a ladder to scale the walls of the west side of the plaza.

Court documents show Miller also assisted other rioters in scaling the walls and other items. Miller and others then moved to the lower west terrace and close to the tunnel area leading into the building.

Court proceedings revealed that Miller waved his hand, and said multiple times, “Come on,” as the mob chanted “Heave! Ho!” and pushed toward the tunnel entrance that law enforcement officers were attempting to secure. Multiple times, Miller held up his fingers and yelled, “one, two, three, push!”

At this point, Miller also threw batteries at the lower west terrace tunnel where police were guarding the entrance to the Capitol building. Then at about 4:55 p.m. while next to the tunnel, Miller used a fire extinguisher to spray directly into the tunnel onto police officers. Court documents showed several officers were affected by this particular assault.

Miller was arrested Jan. 25, 2021, in Cooksville. He pleaded guilty Feb. 9, 2022, to obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. Following his prison term, Miller will be placed on 24 months of supervised release. He also must pay $2,000 in restitution.

According to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, in the 16 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 250 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.