About 150 people from New York and New Jersey who prosecutors said took part in the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021 were either pardoned or had their sentences commuted by President Donald Trump this week.
They include retired NYPD officers, an MTA worker, a city Department of Sanitation worker, a Queens district leader and a former Marine, among many others.
In his pardon, Trump called the prosecutions a “grave national injustice.” The 1,600 pardons he issued granted defendants full clemency and removed restrictions on purchasing firearms, running for office and voting, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. Trump commuted the sentences of 14 other people across the country — meaning their time in jail or prison will be reduced, but any licensing or employment restrictions connected with their felony will remain in place, according to the Justice Department.
Trump said his administration is continuing to research people whose sentences were commuted, but who did not receive full pardons. According to news reports, the 14 people who received commutations and not pardons had ties to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys extremist groups.
The storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 killed five people, injured approximately 140 law enforcement officers and threatened the peaceful transfer of power, according to the Justice Department.
According to court documents, the New Yorkers and New Jersey residents who were charged, and now granted clemency were accused by federal prosecutors of a range of crimes. Charges included conspiring to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, beating a Capitol police officer with a flagpole and being members of extremist groups. It’s not clear how many people who were employed by public agencies are trying to get their jobs back, and the agencies contacted by Gothamist did not say whether they would consider rehiring people who have been pardoned.
Here’s what we know about a few noteworthy Jan. 6 participants from the New York region.
Brandon Straka
Pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct
Pardoned three days before his probation was scheduled to end
A photo taken by pro-Trump social media influencer Brandon Straka inside the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
FBI
Brandon Straka, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, says he never felt he did anything wrong. He said now that he’s been pardoned, he feels free to say that publicly.
“It’s more of a liberation thing,” Straka, who heads the #WalkAway Foundation, a right-wing social media brand, said in a phone interview. “I have at no point whatsoever believed that I was guilty of any crimes on Jan. 6, despite the fact that I took a plea deal and pled guilty to a misdemeanor.”
Straka further defended the pardons and commutations of those convicted of violent acts.
“Why is breaking a window on that day or initiating violence on that day treated so differently than any other incident of breaking a window?” he said in a phone interview where he called the punishments for taking part in the insurrection excessive.
He and other defendants complain about being placed on terrorism watchlists. “Which means that we have to go through hours of screening to get on an airplane,” he said.
Dominic Pezzola
Convicted of assault and robbery
Released from prison Jan. 21 after his sentence was commuted
A photo of Dominic Pezzola allegedly using a riot shield to smash windows during the breach of the U.S. Capitol, as released in court documents.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Dominic “Spaz” Pezzola pleaded not guilty to accusations of planning the storming of the Capitol, taking the riot shield from a Capitol police officer and using it to smash a window, and being one of the first insurrectionists to breach the Capitol, according to court records. Pezzola, a Rochester resident and former Marine, was a member of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys and discussed plans to kill then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to the indictment.
In a bench trial, Pezzola was convicted of assaulting an officer, robbery and other charges related to obstructing an official proceeding, according to court records. He was sentenced to 10 years in September 2023 and released Jan. 21.
Multiple messages to Pezzola and his lawyers were not returned.
Thomas Webster
Assaulting a police officer
Released from prison on Jan. 20
An image of body camera footage showing Thomas Webster at the Jan. 6th riot.
FBI
Retired NYPD Officer Thomas Webster was convicted on all charges that included striking an officer several times with a flagpole, tackling him and using his helmet to choke him.
In September 2022, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison and was released on Jan. 20 after receiving a full pardon.
Webster served on Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s security detail and retired from the NYPD in 2011. He earned $126,000 per year in his last full year of employment, according to public records. According to the state comptroller, pensions can only be revoked when a person is convicted of a crime related to their public service. Pensions for police officers are not publicly available.
Webster and his family did not return multiple messages. His lawyer, James Monroe, said he has not spoken to Webster since his release.
“I’m certainly very happy for him and his family,” Monroe said.
Philip Grillo
Pleaded not guilty to entering the Capitol
Released Jan. 20
A photo showing Philip Grillo entering the Capitol building
FBI
Philip Grillo spent only a month of his 12-month federal sentence in a federal prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey before receiving a full pardon. Grillo, who was elected as the Republican district leader for northeast Queens’ 24th Assembly District from 2019 and 2023, which covers Northeast Queens, told Gothamist in 2022 that he was a moderate Republican who opposed several Trump policies, and only went to Washington on Jan. 6 because his friends gave him a ride.
But a social media post after his release early Tuesday morning indicated that he is now a strong Trump supporter. “MAGA, long live the MAGA movement and long live President Trump,” he said in a video.
Contact information for Grillo was unavailable and he did not return a message left with his friend, David Rem.
According to Rem, Grillo didn’t yet have a phone and was unreachable. Rem, a sanitation worker and 2025 Republican candidate for mayor of New York City, picked Grillo up from prison and said Grillo’s sentence was excessive.
Grillo pleaded not guilty to several misdemeanors related to illegally entering the Capitol and was convicted in a one-day jury trial, according to court records.
William Joseph Pepe
Assaulting police officers
Pardoned before his sentencing
William Pepe, a mechanical engineer in the MTA, was among three suspected Proud Boy members from New York.
Metropolitan Police Department
William Pepe, a mechanical engineer in the MTA’s Brewster Yard, was accused of being a member of the extremist group the Proud Boys and assaulting police officers while gaining entrance to the Capitol, according to his indictment. He pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges and was convicted by a judge in October with his sentencing scheduled for later this year, according to court records.
Pepe and his lawyer did not return multiple messages.
According to court records, Pepe called in sick to his job with the Metro-North Railroad in order to storm the Capitol. The MTA suspended him without pay, issuing a statement calling Pepe’s conduct “abhorrent and goes against the values of MNR, NY and the nation.”
MTA spokesperson Kayla Shults declined to say whether Pepe has reapplied for his job.
“We are not going to comment on a hypothetical,” Shults said.
Dominick Madden
Pleaded guilty to entering the Capitol
Pardoned after already serving 20 days in prison
Dominick Madden, an NYC sanitation worker, seen at the U.S. Capitol
FBI
Department of Sanitation worker Dominick Madden called in sick on Jan. 6, 2021 and traveled to the Capitol wearing a sweatshirt bearing the name of the right-wing conspiracy theory movement QAnon, according to the prosecutor’s statement of facts. He pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol and served 20 days incarceration last year.
According to city records, Madden resigned from his job with the sanitation department and according to city rules is not guaranteed his job back. The department declined to comment.
Multiple messages left with Madden and his family were not returned.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the number of people from New York and New Jersey who were charged in the Capitol riots. There were about 150.
