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Hatchet M. Speedpardon

Jan 20, 2025

Updated May 23, 2026
Net worth
Unknown
Crimes
january 6, weapons, obstruction
Convicted of
Obstruction of official proceeding and four Capitol misdemeanors; separate Virginia conviction for three unregistered silencers marketed as solvent traps; Proud Boy; Navy reservist with top-secret clearance
Original sentence
48 months (May 2023, D.C.—obstruction and related counts, consecutive to 36 months on Virginia silencer charges, Apr 2023); pardon Jan 2025 (Jan. 6 case only)
Time served
Partial (Jan. 6 sentence before pardon; silencer case continued on appeal)

Background

Hatchet M. Speed, 41, of McLean and Vienna, Virginia, is a former Navy reservist and Proud Boys member who held top-secret clearances while working as a software developer for a defense contractor. He was assigned as a petty officer first class to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office in Chantilly. After attending the January 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally, he marched to the Capitol with other Proud Boys, entered through a Senate wing door, and remained inside for roughly 40 minutes wearing a reinforced "Make America Great Again" hat and a tactical backpack. He was arrested in June 2022 and prosecuted in two federal cases: Capitol-related charges in Washington, D.C., and firearms charges in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The Case

Speed's conduct was part of the January 6 attack, which disrupted Congress's certification of the 2020 presidential election and damaged public trust in the peaceful transfer of power. Prosecutors said he joined the mob that overran police through "sheer force of numbers," texted that rioters had reached the Crypt, and left only after believing the vote had been postponed. In bench-trial testimony and sentencing papers, the government described him shouting with other rioters inside the building and later telling an undercover FBI employee that the crowd had "took control" of the Capitol.

After the riot, Speed began what prosecutors called "panic buying," purchasing at least a dozen firearms and spending more than $40,000 on guns, accessories, and ammunition between February and May 2021 while anticipating civil unrest. Beginning in February 2022, an undercover FBI employee recorded conversations in which Speed expressed admiration for Hitler, Rudolph, and Kaczynski, made antisemitic comments, and said unregistered "solvent trap" devices he bought would "come in handy" for targeting what he called "the opposition." A jury in Alexandria convicted him on January 18, 2023, of possessing three unregistered silencers; Judge Michael Nachmanoff sentenced him on April 13, 2023, to three years in prison, a $15,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. In the D.C. case, Judge Trevor McFadden convicted Speed on March 7, 2023, of felony obstruction and four related misdemeanors, then on May 8, 2023, sentenced him to four years in prison to run consecutive to the Virginia term, plus a $10,000 fine, $2,000 in restitution, and three years of supervised release. The Virginia judge said Speed's admiration for violent historical figures showed he posed a danger to the public.

The Pardon

On January 20, 2025, President Trump granted Speed a full pardon under a proclamation covering certain offenses relating to the events at or near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The pardon applied to his D.C. Capitol case, not his separate Virginia silencer convictions.

Post-pardon

In May 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Speed's Virginia silencer convictions, rejecting his arguments that the devices were not silencers under the National Firearms Act. The appellate record noted that President Trump had pardoned Speed for his January 6 offenses but that the firearms case proceeded separately on appeal.

Sources