Sarah McAbee, the wife of J6 defendant Ronald Colton McAbee, said her husband has undergone unfair treatment both while incarcerated awaiting trial and during his jury trial for being present at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
D.C. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras sentenced Ronald McAbee last month to almost six years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $32,165 in restitution after being convicted and pleading guilty to six felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.
The FBI arrested Ronald McAbee (pictured above) in the parking lot of his work at the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on August 17, 2021. He has been incarcerated ever since.
Sarah McAbee detailed her husband’s case on Monday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Sarah McAbee said her husband, who was working for the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office at the time as a deputy, aided a fallen Metro Police officer at the lower West Terrace Tunnel while protesters actively tried attacking the officer.
Despite Ronald McAbee’s encounter with the fallen officer being caught on video – during which the officer thanked him for his help – Sarah McAbee said “none of it mattered” in the trial.
Sarah McAbee said her husband did not receive a fair trial as the prosecution “lied,” met with witnesses before their testimony and sent evidence to the deliberation room for members of the jury.
“Not only did he not get a fair trial, because D.C. is a peer of nobody the prosecution’s allowed to lie. The prosecution never played the audio. The defense had to play the audio. The prosecution walked the witnesses through what basically led them, but not only leading them, they had met prior to, and they told them what their witness testimony was going to be. On the second day of deliberations, the prosecution thought they were going to lose. They sent back evidence into the deliberation room that was never admitted into trial,” McAbee explained.
“Instead of the judge granting the mistrial that we filed, he said, ‘I’m going to bring the jury back in and ask them to unsee what they saw.’ And he did just that,” she added.
Before his trial, Sarah McAbee (pictured here) said her husband was called a “domestic terrorist” by U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan during a bond hearing.
“A judge is not supposed to see one side or the other, [they’re] just supposed to look at the facts of the case, but he would sit there and call them domestic terrorists,” she said.
In regards to his imprisonment, Sarah McAbee said her husband had been incarcerated in Washington D.C. for about 26 of the 32 months he has been behind bars; however, he underwent a type of punishment called “diesel therapy” twice during that time, ending up in eight different facilities.
“Diesel therapy is a form of punishment in the U.S. where they literally move you from facility to facility and your family doesn’t know where you are, your attorney doesn’t know where you are. You’re not allowed to get letters. You’re not allowed to get a commissary. Most of the time you’re held in solitary confinement…He went through that twice,” she said.
“They just take you from prison to prison and you’re only there from anywhere to 48 hours to a week. I remember at one point when this was happening, he called and he was like, ‘Sarah I don’t know what day or what time it is.’ And this had been a week at this point,” she added.
Sarah McAbee said she is concerned for her husband’s safety, given that his profession is in law enforcement.
“Him being a cop is a concern because inmates don’t like police officers,” she said.
In addition, Sarah McAbee said she believes the unfair treatment her husband has received both during the trial and through the prison system is intentional.
“I think it’s to instill fear into the American people. I think to continue not only what’s happened in these trials, but how these individuals are treated afterwards to say never question what your government’s doing,” she said.
Sarah McAbee also expressed her frustration with the Tennessee congressional delegation for not giving her or her husband “recognition” in terms of ensuring his physical safety, ensuring he is placed in a prison that is located no more than 500 miles from his place of residence, and, overall, advocating more for the release of J6 defendants.
She said she believes nobody wants to touch her husband’s case because it’s “too political.”
“Just nobody wants to touch it. That’s why I’m thankful that you’ve not only let me on your show, but brought me back because it is still too political three years later,” she said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Ronald McAbee” by Sarah McAbee.
Violent attacks against law enforcement with brass knuckles is a terrifying felony attack. Mr. McAbee should be retained in prison for many years. He’s a villain so heinous he attacked our Capitol officers for fun. Evil, pure evil.
The fascist beat a law enforcement officer; text messages show the fascist planned to be violent before he joined the insurrection. The fascist pleaded guilty.