A state judge sentenced Alexander Contompasis (photo, left), 39, of Rennsalaer, New York, to 20 years in prison for slicing and dicing two Proud Boys in a street brawl outside the New York capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. The Proud Boys survived, but one was seriously injured.
On the same day that Trump supporters, some led by Proud Boys, invaded the U.S. Capitol to prevent certification of the 2020 election, another Proud Boys group participated in a “stop the steal” rally in Albany, the state capital.
Contompasis claims he went there as an “independent journalist” to document the event, but the judge pointed out that “journalists don’t carry knives.”
A brawl broke out when Trump supporters and opponents converged in a park outside the state capitol building, about an hour before the Washington D.C. riot began. Contompasis claimed self-defense, but a jury found him guilty of first-degree assault.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Contompasis threatened one of the victims on Facebook nearly two months before the rally, suggesting the knife attack — although it occurred after the rival groups began fighting — was premeditated. At his sentencing, they told the judge that while the victims “also engaged in physical violence at the Capitol, they did not bring a knife,” and Contompasis went there with “violence in his mind and in his heart.”
One of the victims referred to Contompasis as “antifa,” but he denied belonging to what the Albany Times-Union (accurately) described as “a decentralized movement of anti-fascist groups that has drawn the ire of Trump supporters.” His political motivation seemed clear, though, from his online postings and podcast comments.
During his sentencing on Nov. 18, 2022, the judge decried the “toxic” political atmosphere in the U.S., which he said exists “all over the country,” and is manifesting itself in criminal behavior, taking note of the Capitol riot prosecutions and sentencings.
The 20 years handed down to Contompasis is the longest sentence I’m aware of related to 2020 election violence.
Read the Times-Union story here.