The widow of the police officer in Washington, D.C., who died by suicide only a few days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 appeared in court on Thursday.
During the appearance, she asked the judge in the case to impose a stiff sentence for a rioter who harassed her husband that day.
Officer Jeff Smith suffered a traumatic brian injury as well as a fracture as he was trying to fight back the rioters, according to his wife, Erin Smith. And his wife further added that the 66-year-old Dana Bell, who was on trial, contributed to the attack on her husband.
As Smith said:
“Because of Dana Bell, (my husband) didn’t get the chance to keep serving as a police officer. At 35, instead of becoming a mother, I became a widow.”
The testimony that Smith gave was part of the sentencing hearing for Bell that was held this week. A federal judge ultimately sentenced Bell to spend 17 months in jail for the role she played in the Capitol riot.
Bell, a woman from Texas who didn’t have a prior criminal history, had already pleaded guilty to assaulting and resisting police. She was accused of snatching a police baton and then accosting an officer as they were trying to clear the mob around the area inside the Capitol building where the House Speaker’s Lobby is.
The officer did this as members of Congress were trying to escape from the building to safety.
A prosecutor for the Department of Justice said body camera footage captured from Jeff Smith’s camera showed images of Bell confronting him. The prosecutor also said Bell could be heard on the tap yelling at Smith to “get a real job … no one supports you.”
Some of that footage was shown during the sentencing hearing held this week. In it, she was seen struggling physically with the officer as law enforcement officials were attempting to clear the crowd away.
As Erin Smith said at the hearing:
“My husband died protecting democracy itself.”
Officials in Washington, D.C., ultimately concluded that Jeff Smith’s death by suicide was a “line-of-duty death,” as it was linked to the injuries that he suffered while he was serving that day.
While Erin Smith was concluding her remarks, Bell mouthed twice toward her, “I’m sorry.”
In requesting leniency, Bell apologized at the hearing, saying:
“It was my fault. It was my choice.”
She then apologized to the “government, the taxpayers and the law enforcement officers,” before turning to Smith and apologizing out loud to her.
The DOJ said that amid the mob at the Capitol that day, Bell “picked up and hurled a stanchion across the floor.” She also “made her way into the area near the Speaker’s Lobby, where a rioter had just been shot. For more than a minute (she) ignored repeatedly police pleas to leave the area so emergency medical crew could access the wounded rioter.
“Instead, she swore and pointed at and gave the middle finger to the officers there.”