January 6 rioter accused of giving Nazi salute sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison

U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell sentenced Dykes — who pleaded guilty to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers in April — to four years and nine months in prison, the Justice Department said in a statement Friday. He was also ordered to pay $22,000 in fines and restitution.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of five years and three months, while the defense had requested a sentence of two years.

Dykes had already “demonstrated his penchant for ideological violence” after being charged and convicted of “criminal conduct” at a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, according to prosecutors. One image showed him making a Nazi salute with one hand while carrying a lit torch with the other.

“Tyler hates his involvement in the Capitol riots. He takes full responsibility for his actions,” his attorneys wrote before his sentencing, emphasizing his young age at the time of the crimes. In their sentencing memo, they added that Dykes would “forever regret” his conduct in the riots and described him as “a young man who made incredibly poor choices on January 6, 2021.”

Dykes attended President Donald Trump’s rally on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, according to a Justice Department statement. He then went to the Capitol, where he removed snow fencing and bicycle barricades with “ZONE CLOSED” signs, “allowing other rioters to more easily enter the restricted area.”

He was at the front of a “violent mob” that forced U.S. Capitol Police officers to abandon their positions near the barricades and climb the steps of the East Rotunda. From there, he celebrated by performing the Sieg Heil salute, the department said.

Dykes denied making the gesture, but prosecutors said the incident was caught on video, the Associated Press reported.

Dykes snatched the riot shield from the hands of two Capitol Police officers, leaving them “exposed and vulnerable” to the pepper spray and other attacks that followed, prosecutors said.

He twice used the shield to force his way through police lines, even forcing D.C. police officers who were trying to stop rioters from approaching the Senate floor to retreat further down a hallway.

“Although Dykes’ assaults did not result in any known injuries, Dykes was an active participant in a violent mob that left numerous officers seriously injured,” prosecutors said.

The FBI arrested Dykes in Virginia on July 17, 2023.

Dykes briefly attended Cornell University in the fall of 2017 before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. He was discharged in May 2023 “under conditions other than honorable” for “engaging in extremist behavior,” prosecutors said.

“Rather than honoring his oath to protect and defend the Constitution, Dykes’ criminal activity on January 6 shows he chose to violate it,” prosecutors wrote.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with crimes related to the January 6 assault on the Capitol.