DILLON — The Dillon man who was arrested and convicted for his role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is now back in Dillon, a free man having received a presidential pardon. Now, he still claims he did nothing wrong that day and his fight is not over.
“My biggest thing right now is hold them all accountable, because we can’t have peace until there’s justice. So that’s where we’re at right now. So, no, I won’t remain silent, I’m going to keep speaking up,” said Henry “Hank” Muntzer from his business in Dillon Friday.
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President Donald Trump made an executive order on Jan. 20 to pardon about 1,500 people prosecuted in the assault on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. Muntzer had been in Lompoc federal prison in California for 17 days when he received the news. He said fellow prisoners celebrated his release.
“They all started jumping up and down, they made so much noise, they were jumping up going, ‘fight, fight, fight.’ I mean the whole pod erupted,” said Muntzer.
Muntzer said he went to the Capitol to peacefully protest the 2020 election of Joe Biden. He still believes false claims the 2020 election was rigged. He also makes refuted claims protesters were not violent that day.
WATCH MORE: Full interview with Henry "Hank" Muntzer
“I was basically led into the Capitol, just like me inviting you over to your house, and then as soon as I get into your home, you assault me and basically call the police and have me arrested,” he said.
Muntzer was sentenced to two years for felony civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He regrets nothing.
“I mean, I think I was put in the right place at the right time. I just felt like it was David versus Goliath,” Muntzer said.
There are some in the community that also support Muntzer.
“Yeah, I’m glad to have him back in the community again. He needs to be here and not behind bars,” said E. Wayne Carlson of Dillon.
Muntzer believes there’s a vast conspiracy of corruption in the United States.
“There’s was a time in history where we had slaves and the nice part about slaves is they knew they were slaves. The problem with the American people right now is we’re all slaves and we don’t recognize it. That’s the real problem,” Muntzer said.
