Supporters of then-President Donald Trump try to force their way through a police barricade in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, hoping to stop Congress from finalizing Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. (Kent Nishimura, Los Angeles Times/TNS)

WASHINGTON — A Marine veteran who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago could get several months in prison when he is sentenced next week, federal prosecutors wrote in a court document.

Ray Epps, an Arizona resident and former member of the far-right, anti-government militia Oath Keepers, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as part of a movement to oppose the transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden. Video footage from that day shows Epps helping other rioters push past a line of police officers at the building.

As part of a deal with prosecutors in September, Epps pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison. Epps is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9. Prosecutors argued he should be locked up for at least half of that time.

“The government requests that this court sentence defendant James Ray Epps Sr. to [a six-month] incarceration, which is the high end of the applicable sentencing guidelines,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo on Tuesday in Washington federal court. “The government also requests that this court impose, consistent with the plea agreement in this case, $500 in restitution, as well as one year of supervised release.”

Epps, 62, previously served as infantry in the Marine Corps for four years and was once part of an Arizona chapter of the Oath Keepers, which supports Trump and calls on members to rebel against laws that it considers unconstitutional. Epps joined the Marine Corps in 1979 and was honorably discharged in 1983. During his service, Epps received military training in riot and crowd control, according to prosecutors.

They said Epps’ military service made his actions at the Capitol “all the more troubling.”

“As a former military member, particularly one with specialized training concerning riots, Epps knew better than most the danger that police officers faced on Jan. 6, yet he contributed to it,” prosecutors wrote. “The court must sentence Epps in a manner sufficient to deter him specifically, and others generally, from going down that road again.”

They said six months in prison is justified for Epps’ actions during the attack.

“The Jan. 6 riot was a violent attack that threatened the lives of legislators and their staff, interrupted the certification of the 2020 Electoral College vote count, did irrevocable harm to our nation’s tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, caused more than $2.9 million in losses, and injured more than 100 police officers,” they wrote.

To date, more than 1,200 people have been charged with participating in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan 6. and more than half of them have been sentenced for their crimes. Most were given prison terms ranging from a couple months to years. Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the leader of the extremist Proud Boys militia, has received the longest prison sentence — 22 years. The founder of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

Other military veterans also have been either convicted or have pleaded guilty to crimes stemming from the Capitol riot. For example, Charles Donohoe, a Marine veteran who served two deployments in Iraq, was sentenced to about three years in prison last month on two felony charges and Navy veteran Kenneth Joseph Owen Thomas was sentenced in November to almost five years in prison after he was convicted of several felonies.

Though Epps was a Trump supporter, he later became the center of a far-right conspiracy theory that claimed he was a federal agent who had been planted in the crowd to discredit the rioters and persuade them to break the law. The theory, which was promoted by various right-wing media outlets, prompted Epps to go into hiding after he began receiving threats from other Trump supporters.

“Epps — who has never been a government employee or agent … was interviewed by the [House Jan. 6 committee],” prosecutors wrote. “Ironically, given the conspiracy theory surrounding him, Epps repeatedly attributed the violence that occurred on Jan. 6 to undercover members of ‘Antifa’ posing as Trump supporters and inciting others to hijack a righteous peaceful protest.”

Antifa is short for “anti-fascist” and is typically used to describe left-wing activists who are opposed to political extremism and white supremacy.