Benjamin Martin’s daughter’s eyes welled with tears minutes before he turned himself over to federal authorities. She may not see her father for more than three years.

Martin surrendered to the U.S. Marshal’s Office at the Robert E. Coyle Federal Courthouse in downtown Fresno on Wednesday afternoon. A judge sentenced him to 38 months for illegal gun possession in a case semi-related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Dressed in a red sequin jacket, stars-and-stripes hat, and a blue Trump 2020 shirt, Martin remained calm, but heavily criticizing Judge Jennifer Thurston, the Department of Justice, and Democrats. He posted videos on X and spoke to GV Wire outside the courthouse.

“I’m feeling really good. I got a lot of people fighting for me, and I know that there’s going to be a lot of people that are going to continue to fight for me. And I know I won’t be here very long,” Martin said.

Federal authorities found a gun that Martin illegally possessed during a September 2021 raid at his Madera County home. The search warrant was based on Martin’s actions during the riot by Donald Trump’s supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

After a one-day bench trial in the Fresno federal courthouse last year, Thurston sentenced Martin in November to 38 months for the gun charge.

In a separate trial last year in Washington, D.C., a jury found him guilty of civil disorder and disorderly conduct charges stemming from the riot. A judge sentenced Martin to a 13-month concurrent sentence, with six of those months tacked on to his firearm case.

Martin said he spent his last moments “loving on my family.” Taking pictures with family in the courthouse lobby, Martin joked it was like taking vacation photos.

He stopped by the pre-trial services office, where he thanked some workers. He then went to the office next door to the U.S. Marshal’s office where — after a final goodbye — he was taken into custody.

Court Cases

During the 2021 raid, federal agents found guns in a safe Martin claimed was not his, saying the firearms belonged to his wife and her father.

However, federal prosecutors said that shortly after Martin’s arrest, he was recorded on a jail call instructing his fiancée to falsely claim that the seized firearms belonged to her and her father. She complied with his request, prosecutors said.

Because Martin had a prior domestic violence conviction in 2018, he was not allowed to own a firearm, leading to his conviction on one federal count. In the domestic violence case, prosecutors said that Martin choked his then-girlfriend and forcibly dragged her back into the house.

After taking office Monday, President Donald Trump issued a pardon for all facing Capitol riot prosecutions or convicted of Capitol riot crimes. Martin contends that because the guns were found from a search warrant stemming from his Jan. 6 involvement, it should be covered under the pardon. Martin’s attorneys made that case to Thurston on Tuesday to no avail.

“Just because a corrupt judge doesn’t have the fortitude to do the right thing doesn’t mean that I need to go to prison. This lady really screwed up. And I think it’s going to come back around,” Martin said.

Martin claimed Vice President JD Vance held a meeting today about his case, but he didn’t elaborate further. The White House has not responded to GV Wire’s request for a comment.