Matthew R. Brackley attends a candidate forum in Wiscasset on Sept. 29, 2022. Brackley entered a guilty plea last week to the felony of assaulting, resisting, or impeding two officers at the United States Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. (LCN file photo)
A Waldoboro man and former Senate District 24 candidate has entered a guilty plea to a felony charge of assaulting an officer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 as electoral college votes were being certified for the 2020 presidential election.
Matthew Brackley, 40, is facing a year or more in prison and five-digit fines for pushing two Capitol police officers while leading a group into the Senate chamber, according to court documents.
“I’d love to, but my attorney advises me not to,” Brackley said when reached for comment on Friday, Jan. 19. He is represented by Steven H. Levin, of the Washington, D.C. firm Steptoe and Johnson.
Brackley was arrested at home in Waldoboro in July 2023 and entered his guilty plea on Thursday, Jan. 18. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15.
Court documents state he admits to assaulting two officers by shoving and acting “with the intent to commit another felony, namely, a violation of the civil disorder statute.”
According to court documents, Brackley’s presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was confirmed by his cell phone data and footage from closed circuit television and videos taken by other participants, along with an interview at his home a year later.
The statement of facts for the case states that Brackley emailed senators on Jan. 5 that year asking them to “stand up to this blatant corruption and support a second term for President Donald J. Trump” and that “the people will” do so.
Brackley flew to Washington, D.C. from Portland the same day, according to court documents, and was present at the “Stop the Steal” rally on the national mall the following morning.
There, he entered the Capitol building by climbing stairs under scaffolding constructed to hold the inaugural stage. Brackley and others pushed through Capitol police officers twice, according to court documents.
When he was stopped by officers a third time at the Senate chamber, documents described a video showing Brackley being told to back up and given a “small” push backward by an officer.
Brackley then turned to others behind him, said “Let’s go,” and pushed through two officers to lead the crowd to the Senate chamber. Another group of officers attempted to stop the group down the following hallway, and the group pushed against them.
Brackley left the building after an officer used chemical spray on the crowd, according to the documents.
Brackley, then a resident of West Bath, ran as a Republican in the November 2022 election in his first bid for the office and lost to incumbent Sen. Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, 12,558-9,016. Maine Senate District 24 consists of Dresden in Lincoln County and all of Sagadahoc County.
According to his plea offer document, the maximum sentence for the charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain offers is eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine, supervised release for up to three years, and restitution.
Brackley’s estimated range is a sentencing of 24-30 months in prison and $10,000 to $95,000 in fines, plus $2,000 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building, according to court documents.
The U.S. Department of Justice said over 1,265 people have been charged in connection to Jan. 6. Over 440 of those have been charged with the same felony as Brackley.
