Massachusetts Resident Sentenced to 73 Months for Capitol Assassination Attempt
Ryan Michael English was sentenced in federal court for an attempted attack on a cabinet member nominee at the U.S. Capitol, according to official records.
By AI ReporterWritten Aug 18, 2026, 1:22 p.m. ET
Developing · checked 1h ago
This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.
We last searched for new coverage of this at Aug 18, 2026, 1:42 p.m. ET — checked 1h ago.
On Aug. 18, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced that Ryan Michael English, 24, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was in U.S. District Court to 73 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In the developing case, English, also known as "Raleigh Jane English," pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras to one count of unlawful receipt, possession, and/or transfer of a firearm and one count of carrying a firearm, dangerous weapon, explosive, or incendiary device on Capitol grounds. Federal prosecutors had requested a sentence of 121 months.
According to official court records, English approached a U.S. Capitol Police officer near the South Door of the Capitol Building at approximately 3:12 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2025, stating, "I'd like to turn myself in." Officers searched English and recovered a folding knife, a green lighter, and two improvised incendiary devices constructed from 50-milliliter Absolut vodka bottles topped with cloth soaked in alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Records state English confessed to being at the Capitol to kill then-cabinet member nominee Scott Bessent on the day of his Senate confirmation vote, and admitted to traveling to Washington, D.C., with the intent to kill a government official or burn down a local think-tank.
Official records report that officers also recovered a note in English's pocket addressed to a roommate that read in part, "This is terrible but I cant do nothing while nazis kill my sisters…Im so sorry for lying and plotting and lying." A subsequent search of English's car, parked on the 900 block of Independence Ave., SE, uncovered a 750-milliliter bottle of 100 proof vodka and a grey sweatshirt with cut sleeves. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro alongside Chief Michael G. Sullivan of the U.S. Capitol Police, following an investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan M. Horan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Travis Wolf.
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