A florida man who violated the US Senate room carrying the trump campaign flag was sentenced Monday to eight months behind the bar, the first resolution for the case of a crime in the Capitol rebellion.
Paul Allard Hodgkins apologized and said that he was ashamed of his actions on January 6.
Talking calmly from the text prepared, he described stuck in euphoria when he walked down the most famous Washington road, then followed the crowd of hundreds into the Capitol.
“If I know that the protest …
will increase (road) it does …
I will never venture him further than the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk,” Hodgkins told the judge.
He added: “This is a stupid decision on my side.” The prosecutor asked Hodgkins to serve 18 months behind bars, by saying in recent submission that he, “like every riot, contributing to the collective threat to democracy” by forcing MPs for a while leaving Joe Biden Donald’s certification for President Donald Trump and scrambled to take refuge from the entrance hordes.
In saying the sentence, Judge Randolph Moss said that Hodgkins had played a role, if not as important as others, in one of the worst episodes in American history.
He still chose to give Hodgkins a little more in prison.
“It’s not, with a stretch of imagination, protest,” Moss said.
“That’s …
a democratic attack.” He added: “It left the stain that would remain on us …
in the country for years to come.” Punishment can set the bar for punishment on hundreds of other defendants when they decide whether to receive an appeal or go to court.
Hodgkins and others were accused of serious crimes but were not charged, because some others, for roles in a larger conspiracy.
Under the agreement with the prosecutor, he begged guilty last month into a count of blocking the official process, which brought a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Instead, prosecutors agreed to reduce lower costs, including entering limited buildings and non-orderly behaviors.
Assistant Ahtorney Mona Sedky said that, while Hodgkins was not involved in his own violence, he walked among many who did it – in what he called “ransacked the people’s house.” And when he walked with the destroyed police barrier, he could see tear gas smoke and chaos in front of him.
“What did he do?” He asked the court.
“He walked in that direction.
He didn’t leave.” He added that Hodgkins was in the middle of a horde that forced parliamentarians to find a shelter and several Congress staff to hide in fear, locked on officers when hundreds swept the building.
Those who fear their lives on that day will, he said, “bear emotional scars for years – if not forever.” Hodgkins has never been accused of attacking anyone or damaging the property.
And the prosecutor said he was entitled to penalties to take immediate responsibility and pleaded guilty of the cargo of obstruction.
But they also noted how he took the bus in his hometown Tampa Bound for a rope driver Trump January 6, protective glasses and latex gloves in the backpack – said that he came to Washington to commit violence.
Video recording shows Hodgkins wearing a T-shirt Trump 2020, the flag was thrown on the shoulder and his eyes on his neck, in the senate.
He took a selfie with a dukun he explained in his horned helmet and other rioters in Dais behind him.
His lawyer begged the judge to save when his 38-year-old client in prison, said the shame would stick to Hodgkins for the rest of his life must be taken into account as a punishment.
Lawyers argued in court letters that Hodgkins’s actions were not much different from Anna Morgan Lloyd – besides Hodgkins stepped onto the Senate floor.
Morgan Lloyd was the first of the 500 captured to be sentenced.
He pleaded guilty of unquested law violations and last month was sentenced to a three-year trial.
Hodgkins’s lawyer, Patrick N.
Leduc, described his client as an American who obeyed the law, despite living in a poorer part of Tampa, regularly submitting himself to the food bank.
He noted that Hodgkins was eagle surveillance.
His actions on January 6 “is the story of a man who is only one hour on one day losing the bearing …
which made a decision to follow the crowd,” said the lawyer.