A North Georgia man who boasted on Facebook that he and others “made our statement” during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges Wednesday in federal court in Washington.
Zylas “Zee” Hamilton, 31, of Blue Ridge pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and illegally demonstrating in the Capitol. Prosecutors agreed to drop two other misdemeanor charges in exchange for his guilty plea.
Hamilton came to Washington on Jan. 6 to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “stop the steal” speech at the Ellipse, after which he joined with others to march on the Capitol. Prosecutors said he entered the Capitol through a breached door on the Senate side, walked around the first floor of the building and then left through a broken window.
All told, Hamilton was in the Capitol for approximately 14 minutes, part of which he livestreamed on Facebook. After the riot, Hamilton removed the footage, but a tipster saved it before it was deleted and turned it over to FBI investigators.
FBI agents were able to use data from Hamilton’s cellphone to show he was inside the Capitol during the riot, according to court records. Security cameras and other video and still images shot by other accused rioters or journalists included in court records show Hamilton at various points inside and outside the building.
After the riot, Hamilton boasted on his Facebook page and urged others to “stand up for what you believe in.”
“We showed America that it doesn’t have to deal with a treasonous government,” he wrote, according to court records.
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
Credit: U.S. Department of Justice
In a private Facebook chat, Hamilton downplayed the damage to the Capitol, which authorities have said cost nearly $3 million to repair.
“We could have burnt the place to the ground,” Hamilton wrote. “The storm (sic) of the Capitol was about the bs that conservatives have put up with for 4 (expletive) years.”
When he was urged by a friend to delete incriminating social media posts, Hamilton wrote that he was not worried about the consequences.
Hamilton faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and five years on probation when he is sentenced in August. Similar Jan. 6 defendants typically have received shorter sentences of a few weeks in jail, home confinement or probation alone.
Shortly after the riot, Hamilton wrote on social media that he was not worried about the consequences.
“I’ll die or do 20 years before my kids grow up in the country these people are trying to creat (sic),” he wrote.
But he did delete some of the posts, after which Hamilton wrote to one of his contacts that he was “waiting on the feds to come get me.” He was not formally charged for three more years.
Hamilton is a licensed plumber in Tennessee and made several appearances on a lifestyles show on a Chattanooga television station to promote his business. The station has since removed the videos.
Hamilton is among 36 people with Georgia ties to be charged in the Jan. 6 investigation and the 24th to have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial.
