'He was your trophy': Judge shreds Capitol rioter's claim he was trying to protect cop who got brutally beaten

Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday delivered a withering rebuke of convicted Capitol rioter Albuquerque Head shortly before slapping him with a 90-month prison sentence.

Head, who was caught on video dragging former Washington Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone into the mob where he was brutally beaten by other Trump supporters, tried to tell the court that he was trying to protect Fanone, even though he shouted "I got one!" as he dragged Fanone to the crowd.

Judge Jackson, however, was not buying that claim.

"He was your prey, he was your trophy," she told Head, per Politico's Kyle Cheney. "He was protecting the very essence of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power after a democratic election. He was protecting America. That’s who Officer Fanone was. That’s what Officer Fanone was doing. You made choices over and over again to go after him and not disengage."

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Jackson then warned the court that the forces that encouraged Head and his fellow Trump supporters to storm the Capitol were still alive and well.

"The dark shadow of tyranny unfortunately has not gone away," she said. "Some people are directing their vitriol at Officer Fanone and not at the people who summoned the mob in the first place."

She then gave Head seven-and-a-half years in jail, which Cheney notes is the second-longest prison sentence yet given out in a January 6th case.