WASHINGTON — A federal judge sentenced an Ohio pastor to two-and-a-half years in prison Thursday and ordered him to report immediately to jail for using a bullhorn to incite the mob against police on Jan. 6, 2021.
William Dunfee, 59, of Coshocton, Ohio, was convicted after a stipulated bench trial in January of one felony count of civil disorder and one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted area. A second felony count, obstruction of an official proceeding, was dismissed in August following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling narrowing the statute earlier this year.
Dunfee is the pastor of New Beginnings Ministries Warsaw in Ohio and partner in a construction company named Cross Builders. He was identified in part thank to the company-branded jacket he wore on Jan. 6.
Dunfee appeared in court Thursday for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who said he was disturbed by how Dunfee had used his position of trust as a pastor to not only urge others on the East side of the U.S. Capitol to knock down police barricades but to recruit reinforcements for the more pitched clash between rioters and police on the west side.
"What kind of man of God would do that, sir?" Walton asked him.
Dunfee faced a recommended sentencing guideline of 18-24 months, but Walton varied upward to 30 months, or two-and-a-half years. He also ordered him to serve three years of supervised release and pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution. Although Walton was not required to order Dunfee immediately detained, he chose to do so — saying he believed in the current political climate he was a potential danger to the community. Dunfee will be held at the D.C. Jail until he is assigned to a federal facility by the Bureau of Prisons.
Federal prosecutors had sought four years in prison for Dunfee, saying unlike many other rioters who eventually wound up at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, he didn’t attend the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse. Instead, he went straight to the east side of the building, where he used a bullhorn to whip the crowd into a “frenzy.” Dunfee led other protesters in “Fight for Trump” chants and periodically turned his attention to police, who he demanded allow the crowd past barricades and to the steps of the Capitol.
“Mister police officers, we want you to understand something,” Dunfee told police. “We want you to understand something. We want Donald Trump and if Donald Trump is not coming, we are taking our house! We are taking our house! … Give us Trump or give us our house!”
Dunfee also directed other rioters to move around to the west side of the building to reinforce the more pitched combat with police happening there and attempted to recruit others on the east side to assist in charging through police barricades. In a sentencing memo filed Monday evening, prosecutors said multiple rioters remembered Dunfee’s role on the east side. Two of them, John Douglas Wright and Clay Norris, both of Canton, Ohio, recalled how Dunfee led them and four other men in a plan to knock down police barricades.
“Dunfee asked the six men to help him breach the barricades, instructed them to spread out across the barricade line to overwhelm outnumbered police officers,” prosecutors wrote. “Dunfee advised Wright that he would use a prayer to signal the men to begin their attack… Wright and Norris were directly beside Dunfee as they breached the barricades together at 1:45 p.m. This was the first breach of the barricades on the East Front.”
Prosecutors said Dunfee also sent an associate on his behalf to approach members of the Proud Boys in an unsuccessful effort to recruit them to breach the barricades. According to the Justice Departments’ sentencing memo, Dunfee and the unidentified man were associated through “Pass the Salt Ministries,” a group founded by former high school football coach, Republican congressional candidate and long-time right-wing activist Dave Daubenmire that encourages Christians to “step into the cultural war.” Daubenmire, who also founded a related group called the “Salt and Light Brigade,” has not been charged in connection with the riot.
Dunfee ultimately helped other rioters push on metal bike rack barricades during the first breach on the east side of the building at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, and again at 2 p.m. As he did, prosecutors said, Dunfee told police, “We are going to the steps… You can fight us.”
After assisting breaching the barricades, Dunfee eventually made it to the Rotunda Doors, where he stopped after being pepper sprayed. Prosecutors said as other rioters came out of the building and informed him the certification had been stopped, Dunfee responded, “Hallelujah! Mission accomplished!”
Dunfee’s attorneys had sought a much lower sentence from Walton: a year of home incarceration to be followed by five years of supervised release and 200 hours of community service, or, in the alternative, a prison term of no more than a year and a day. In their memo, attorneys Thomas Kidd and Curt Hartman said Dunfee, now nearly 60, has significant health issues and has had to have a pacemaker installed since his participation in the riot.
“That sentence along with continued supervision would satisfy the goals of sentencing,” Kidd and Hartman wrote. “Mr. Dunfee will not make the mistakes he made post-election 2020 in the future.”
Dunfee made a brief statement in court before Walton sentenced him, saying his conduct was wrong and "disrespectful to the law and those whose job is to enforce it." He asked Walton to consider his six grandsons before imposing a custodial sentence.
Walton's decision to immediately detain Dunfee appeared to shock family and friends who'd attended the hearing in his support. As U.S. Marshals were preparing to take Dunfee into custody, one supporter who'd come to watch the proceeding said from the public gallery, "Thanks for standing for Jesus. Thanks for being a man of God."
In the 44 months since the Capitol riot, more than 1,500 people have now been charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to seditious conspiracy. More than 900 have now been sentenced in connection to Jan. 6.