The first rioter to breach the US Capitol building during the January 6, 2021, riots was sentenced to nearly four and a half years in prison on Tuesday, The Hill reported.
In March, a federal jury delivered a guilty verdict against Michael Sparks, a 47-year-old from Kentucky, on six counts, including interfering with police and obstructing Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
United States District Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed the count charging Sparks with obstruction of an official proceeding at the prosecutors’ request earlier this month, following a Supreme Court ruling in June that narrowed the use of this charge in January 6 cases.
However, on Tuesday, the judge stated that, for sentencing purposes, he found that obstructing the certification was Sparks’s intent, according to The Hill.
Judge Kelly ordered 53 months in prison and USD 2,000 in restitution to the Architect of the Capitol. The sentence imposed on Michael Sparks departed from the federal sentencing guidelines, which recommended a prison term of 15 to 21 months. Notably, a probation officer had suggested a sentence of 21 months, according to Judge Kelly.
Addressing the judge, Sparks stated that he believes the 2020 presidential election was “taken” and that the United States is “in tyranny.” However, he added that he never intended to harm law enforcement. “That’s not who I am,” Sparks said, according to The Hill.
Video footage from the riots showed Sparks jumping through a shattered Capitol window shortly after another rioter, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, busted it open. Upon entering the Capitol, Sparks came face-to-face with US Capitol Police Sergeant Victor Nichols.
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