Dana Jean Bell, who yelled at an officer who later died by suicide, "regrets ever having responded to Trump’s call,” her lawyer wrote. She was sentenced to 17 months in prison.

Oct. 18, 2024, 12:22 PM PDT
By Ryan J. Reilly

WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol and assaulted law enforcement officers now says she was "duped" by the former president's lies about the 2020 election.

Dana Jean Bell was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly on Thursday. Federal prosecutors had sought 27 months in federal prison, saying Bell "belligerently pushed, grabbed, and verbally attacked countless U.S. Capitol Police ('USCP' and Metropolitan Police Department ('MPD' officers who were attempting to clear rioters from inside the United States Capitol Building."

Bell pleaded guilty in July to one count of assaulting officers. Her behavior included giving "officers the middle finger while scowling at them and repeatedly yelling 'F--- YOU' towards them," prosecutors said.

One of the officers who Bell, a 62-year-old Trump supporter, encountered was the late Jeffrey Smith.

“Get a real job, get a real job!” Bell yelled at Smith, in video captured on his body camera. “We don’t support y’all anymore. Now NO ONE supports you! Nobody!”

After his encounter with Bell, Smith was subsequently assaulted on at least two separate occasions, including being struck by a flying metal object thrown by another member of the mob on the west front of the U.S. Capitol after nightfall. Smith then reported for treatment, but the facility was so overwhelmed with other officers who had been assaulted by other Trump supporters that, his family says, he did not get proper treatment.

Smith died by suicide nine days later, and a police board and the Justice Department ruled his death was in the line of duty, caused directly by the injuries he sustained at the Capitol. Last month, the Washington Nationals baseball honored Jeffrey Smith, dedicating a seat to him alongside other officers who died in the line of duty.

Erin Smith, Jeffrey Smith's widow, was in court on Thursday for Bell's sentencing and gave a victim impact statement. Erin Smith told the court she would not have lost her husband had “this woman and others not chose violence that fateful day,” saying Bell chose to “assault and berate police, who, like my husband, held very real jobs, jobs that got four of them killed and hundreds injured.”

Bell, according to her defense team, believed it was “her civil and patriotic duty to answer Trump’s call” on Jan. 6. But they say she has now seen the light. In a psychiatric evaluation her lawyer filed in court, a doctor said Bell now realizes she was “duped” by “President Donald Trump’s lies and manipulation” and “has also come to realize former President Trump did lose the 2020 election and he has used all of his followers including herself for his own gain.”

"Dana regrets ever having responded to Trump’s call," her lawyer wrote.

Bell joined the mob in entering the Capitol on Jan. 6. When she left, she "approached a news crew, joining a crowd that was giving the news crew the middle finger, calling them 'traitors' and 'fake news,' and telling them to 'get out.' Bell then began attempting to push and grab at a certain female news anchor, who was recording the event on her cell phone. Bell then raised her hand and attempted to kick another individual when that person attempted to intervene."

More than 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and new cases continue to roll in.

Earlier on Thursday, Peter G. Moloney, a Trump supporter who inherited a chain of funeral homes in Long Island, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting an officer along with a misdemeanor. Moloney admitted that he assaulted officers with “Black Flag Wasp, Hornet, & Yellow Jacket Killer” spray and that he assaulted two people he thought were with the media. Moloney is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2025, just weeks after the next presidential inauguration, but that could change under a Trump presidency.