Ex-town official gets 15 days for role in Jan. 6 riot

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts ex-town official seen on surveillance video marching through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to 15 days in prison for her role in the riot carried out by supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump to stop the transfer of presidential power to Democrat Joe Biden.

Suzanne Ianni, 60, who organized a bus trip to Washington, D.C., for fellow members of the right-wing group Super Happy Fun America, was also sentenced Friday to 30 days of probation. She pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building.

Federal prosecutors had asked for a 30-day sentence and a year and a half of probation. Her defense sought a year of probation with no prison time, according to court records.

“Suzanne Ianni is devoted to her family, her community, and her country,” the defense wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “She was raised to have an abiding respect for law enforcement, and has had no prior contacts with the criminal court system.”

“Suzanne Ianni is a strong-willed person,” her attorney, C. Henry Fasoldt said in an email Monday. “She will serve her short sentence, then move on with her life.”

Ianni was an elected Town Meeting member in the Boston suburb of Natick while working with Super Happy Fun America, which gained national attention in 2019 for organizing a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston.

On its website, the group describes itself as “a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the Constitution, opposing gender madness and defeating cultural Marxism.”

Ianni marched to the Capitol, and joined a crowd chanting, “Fight for Trump!” and “Our house!” while rioters near her broke windows, forced open doors and breached police barricades, prosecutors said. Ianni was seen on surveillance video marching through the Capitol after she entered the building through a Senate fire exit.

Nearly 900 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol breach.