Ex-employee sentenced for shooting conspiracy theorist

A judge on Monday sentenced a former Marine to nine years in prison for shooting his former employer, a prominent conspiracy theorist, in the rear end and running him down with his SUV.

The Washington Post reported that Kevin Doherty, 46, was sentenced to a 23-year prison term with 14 years suspended for a complicated revenge plot aimed at his former boss, Jack Burkman.

Prosecutors said that Doherty worked as an investigator for Burkman, who as a conspiracy theorist promoted false narratives about the death of former Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich, among other topics.

{mosads}The two had a falling out, and Doherty lured Burkman to an Arlington, Va., hotel earlier this year by promising to hand over documents that would show FBI misconduct, the Post reported.

Prosecutors said that when Burkman arrived and leaned over to retrieve the purported documents, Doherty shot him twice in the buttocks with a rifle, according to the Post. As Burkman fled, Doherty got into his SUV and ran down his former boss.

Burkman suffered a broken arm and has two bullets still in his backside after doctors said they were too dangerous to remove, the Post reported.

Multiple right-wing outlets have published stories tying Rich’s death to a conspiracy theory involving stolen emails from the DNC which were released by WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential election. The Rich family has filed multiple lawsuits over the stories.

Burkman was also connected to a conspiracy theory this year in which an unnamed woman alleged sexual misconduct against special counsel Robert Mueller.

The special counsel’s office asked the FBI to investigate after a woman approached multiple news outlets to say she’d been offered $20,000 to make the accusations.