The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday rejected an argument from three Capitol riot defendants that their pepper-spraying against officers on Jan. 6, 2021, did not constitute use of a dangerous or deadly weapon.

The D.C. Circuit said the federal government had shown that pepper spray can cause "serious bodily injury" and that the three men—Jeffrey Brown, Markus Maly and Peter Schwartz—used it that way; therefore, an enhancement was properly applied to the charges against them.