Man who accosted former Rep. Lee Zeldin at N.Y. marketing campaign cease receives 3 years probation

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A person who climbed onto a marketing campaign occasion platform in upstate New York final yr and accosted Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin obtained three years probation Thursday.

David Jakubonis approached the then-U.S. consultant whereas carrying a keychain with two sharp factors at a marketing campaign rally close to Rochester, New York in July 2022. The two males struggled, and Jakubonis pulled Zeldin down earlier than being subdued, based on prosecutors.

Jakubonis’ attorneys have stated the U.S. Army veteran was drunk and was making an attempt to get to the microphone.

Jakubonis, 44, pleaded responsible in September to a misdemeanor cost of assaulting a federal officer, organising the sentencing listening to Thursday. A choose allowed his launch from jail to an alcohol therapy program in October.

Jakubonis’ legal professional stated his consumer “is not the same person” 17 months after the incident and has benefitted from counseling to handle post-traumatic stress dysfunction and nervousness dysfunction.

“David is a decorated veteran of the war on terror and has been found permanently disabled from his service,” John DeMarco wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “I believe those circumstances together with the support of former Congressman Zeldin (and) the criminal justice system got this disposition perfectly right.”

Jakubonis was deployed to Iraq in 2009 as a medical laboratory technician.