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Leading Petty Officer David Elizalde, 46, was stationed on the USS Harry S. Truman on Jan. 6, 2021, when he unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol.
WASHINGTON — An active-duty Navy aircraft mechanic convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is asking a judge not to sentence him to probation – saying it would likely mean the end of his military career.
Leading Petty Officer David Elizalde, 46, was convicted in a bench trial last year of one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Federal prosecutors are seeking three years of probation, along with 30 days of intermittent confinement, saying he furthered the riot at the Capitol “despite his sworn obligation to defend the nation and the Constitution as an active-duty member of the armed forces of the United States.”
Elizalde was stationed on the USS Harry S. Truman, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier based out of Norfolk, Virginia, on Jan. 6, 2021. According to his attorney, Stephen F. Brennwald, Elizalde was on shore leave at the time and didn’t see an email from the Navy instructing its members not to attend any Jan. 6 events.
Instead, Elizalde traveled to D.C. and attended the rally held by former President Donald Trump at the Ellipse. He then made his way to the Capitol, where he entered through a damaged door on the northwest side of the building after personally witnessing “multiple violent altercations between the rioters and police,” according to prosecutors. Elizalde remained inside the building for approximately three minutes before being directed to leave by police.
After Jan. 6, Elizalde was stationed at the naval base in Rota, Spain. He was interviewed there by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in December 2021 and February 2023. During his December 2021 interview, according to prosecutors, Elizalde admitted he had made a bad decision on Jan. 6 but expressed no remorse for what had happened.
“I know when all this is past and gone, ten years from now, twenty years from now, I know people are going to be talking about it,” Elizalde said. “And they’re going to be like, ‘Hey, were you there?’ And I was going to be like, ‘Yes and here’s my story,’ you know? It was just historical.”
Elizalde was arrested in Arlington, Virginia, in April 2023 and released on personal recognizance. He then continued his service in the Navy, where, according to prosecutors, he remains a leading petty officer serving as an active-duty military aviation mechanic.
In a sentencing memo filed Wednesday, Brennwald said a representative of the Navy had informed him Elizalde’s 17-year career in the service would likely be over if he were sentenced to probation because of the necessity for him to deploy around the world.
“The military does not countenance its members being on probation, as it cannot be bound a by a person’s duty to report to a probation officer, or attend court, while on deployment or stationed overseas,” Brennwald said.
Brennwald instead requested U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols sentence Elizalde to a term of home confinement between 30 and 60 days. Brennwald said that was under the range that would result in Elizalde’s discharge from the Navy. Brennwald said Elizalde’s career of service to the country shouldn’t be ended by a misdemeanor conviction.
“Not only has he served his country honorably for nearly two decades, but he has served in theaters of war that are extremely dangerous, and on ships – nuclear aircraft carriers – that are frontline targets for America’s enemies in the Middle East,” Brennwald wrote.
Elizalde was scheduled to be sentenced Friday at 10 a.m. by Nichols. Because he was convicted of only a class “B” misdemeanor, he cannot be sentenced to both a term of imprisonment and probation – although he can be ordered to serve intermittent confinement as a condition of probation.
Although dozens of military veterans have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot, Elizalde is one of only a handful of active-duty service members to be charged. Earlier this month, Marine Corps Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, who was separated from the military in early 2022, appeared for a bench trial on multiple counts, including felony charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting or impeding police. The verdict in that case wasn’t expected until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a pending challenge to the obstruction statute used to charge Warnagiris and hundreds of others in connection with Jan. 6.
