A former Montgomery County police officer from Rockville was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday for his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden also sentenced Justin Lee, 25, to 12 months of supervised release and ordered him to pay $7,500 in restitution, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a press release Friday. In August, McFadden convicted Lee of “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and civil disorder,” both felonies, and several misdemeanor offenses related to his actions during the breach of the Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump.
“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election,” the U.S. attorney’s office stated Friday.
Lee is one of six known Montgomery County residents who participated in the insurrection and who have been arrested or sentenced.
Following Lee’s August conviction, his attorney, Terrell N. Roberts, told MoCo360 that he was “disappointed” with the verdict. Roberts also said he would consider options for appealing the verdict come Lee’s November sentencing.
Roberts did not immediately respond to MoCo360’s phone call Monday morning requesting comment on the sentencing and potential for appeal.
After Lee was convicted, county police said he had been relieved of his police powers and was no longer employed by the department.
In an August statement, the department noted it is “dedicated to ensuring that all our officers continue to uphold the standards that serve the best interests of the Montgomery County community.”
Lee was indicted in October 2023 for the felony offenses related to his actions during the insurrection. FBI agents based in Baltimore arrested Lee on Oct. 19, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
According to police, Lee had participated in the insurrection before being hired as a county police officer. Lee began working for the department on Jan. 31, 2022. County police said his participation in the insurrection was not known at the time of his hiring.
“Lee’s involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection was not discovered during this process, as he was not identified by the Justice Department in connection with the event,” police said in a statement after Lee was arrested.
Fatal shooting
Before his indictment, Lee had been on administrative leave at the department since July 22, 2023, when he fatally shot a man suspected in four stabbings in Aspen Hill.
Franklin Castro Ordonez, 19, of Gaithersburg was suspected of stabbing four people in the areas of Colie Road and the Unique Thrift Store on Veirs Mill Road in an attack that police Assistant Chief Darren Francke called “unprovoked” and “random” at a press conference on the day of the incident.
Police body camera footage released weeks later showed Ordonez running toward Lee, knife in hand. Lee then shot him multiple times, according to the footage.
“No matter what Mr. Lee did on Jan. 6, it’s my opinion that he has atoned for that by his service as a Montgomery County police officer, and that includes his act of bravery and saving lives on a particular occasion when he had to use deadly force to stop a knife-wielding man,” Roberts told MoCo360 in August. “It’s tragic, very tragic.”
In April, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General chose not to pursue charges against Lee after investigating the officer-involved shooting, according to police. Since the shooting, Lee has not “performed the duties of a police officer,” police said in August.
Roberts told MoCo360 in October 2023 that the attorney general’s investigation of the shooting did not lead the FBI to find Lee.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said its Friday statement that, according to documents presented during the trial, Lee was identified by law enforcement authorities from open-source video of a crowd of rioters who were at the exterior Archway of the Capitol leading to the “Tunnel” area of the building. He was also identified, in part, by a Maryland flag gaiter face covering he wore on the day of the Capitol breach, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
“The Tunnel was the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement on Jan. 6,” the attorney’s office said in the release.
From the open-source video, authorities observed a man – who they later identified as Lee – standing on the steps leading to the Tunnel and throwing smoking and sparking objects toward a line of Metropolitan Police Department officers.
Lee was also seen throwing an unlit object at police and holding and pointing a flashlight toward the Tunnel entrance.
According to the attorney’s office, one of the objects thrown by Lee “produced a billowing smoke cloud as other rioters attempted to physically push against the officers, preventing entry into the Capitol building.”
In the more than three years since the insurrection, more than 1,561 people have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol, according to the attorney’s office. More than 590 individuals have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
