She came to Washington with at least five other people who have been charged in the Capitol riot, including co-defendant William Blauser, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Last year, McFadden ordered Blauser to pay a $500 fine but didn’t sentence him to any term of incarceration or probation.
McFadden convicted Bauer of all five counts in her indictment, including a felony charge that she obstructed the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Defense attorney Komron Jon Maknoon said Bauer never intended to interfere with the process of certifying the electoral college vote. She “genuinely regrets her past actions” and doesn’t pose a threat to the public, her lawyer said.
“The international spotlight showcasing her at her worst has deeply affected her,” Maknoon wrote.
Prosecutors said Bauer lied during her trial testimony, giving a bogus explanation for her confrontation with police and claiming she didn’t remember threatening Pelosi.
Bauer has used “sovereign citizen” extremist rhetoric and filed “nonsense” court documents while defending herself, prosecutors said.
More than a year before the trial, McFadden ordered Bauer to be jailed for several months for violating conditions of her release. She had claimed the court has no authority over her and told the judge that she doesn’t want “any lawyering from the bench.”
During an interview in 2021, Bauer said her arrest on Capitol riot charges led to a mixed reaction from neighbors in Kane, a small town on the edge of the 517,000-acre Allegheny National Forest.
“A lot of people say that they’re proud of me for standing up for my rights,” she told The Associated Press.
Bauer said her restaurant, Bob’s Trading Post, was thriving before the COVID-19 pandemic. She became known in her hometown as an outspoken critic of lockdown measures that cost her business.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 500 of them have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from one week to 18 years.