British man gets one year over attempt to kill Trump

A British man was sentenced to a year in prison Tuesday for grabbing a police officer’s gun in an attempt to assassinate Donald Trump, according to Wednesday reports.

Michael Sandford, now 20, reached for the firearm during a rally in Las Vegas in June when Trump was not yet president-elect, The Telegraph said.

Sandford, who has autism, was sentenced at a federal court in Las Vegas and had been facing up to 20 years in prison prior to his guilty plea. His lawyers have said he suffers from mental illness and was experiencing a psychotic episode during the incident.

Judge James Mahan on Tuesday told Sanford during his sentencing that the British man has “a medical problem.”

{mosads}“You should not be ashamed or embarrassed about it,” he told Sanford. “You need medication. You’re not a hardened criminal. You’re not evil or sociopathic like a lot of people we have. I don’t think you wanted to kill anybody. This was just some crazy stunt that your mind told you to do.”

The Telegraph added that Lynne Sanford, Michael Sanford’s mother, has asked that he obtain permission to serve his sentence in the U.K. so he has access to all necessary psychiatric help.

Sandford, then 19, approached a uniformed police officer during Trump’s June 16 rally and reportedly pretended to seek an autograph.

Authorities said Sandford tried taking the officer’s weapon during the exchange and was arrested without further incident.

Sandford later told police he wanted to kill Trump using the weapon, adding he had even practicing his shooting at a gun range the day before.

He pled guilty in September to charges of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and disrupting an official function.

Trump in June said he learned about the attempt on his life from television, adding Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials protecting him did “a fantastic job.”