US: First rioter to breach Capitol on January 6 gets 4.5 years of prison
Aug 27, 2024
Washington DC [US], August 28 : 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 individual from Kentucky, on six counts, including interfering with police and obstructing Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
The United States District Judge Timothy Kelly dismissed the count charging Sparks with obstruction of an official proceeding at prosecutors' request earlier this month, following a Supreme Court ruling in June that narrowed the use of the charge in January 6 cases.
But on Tuesday, the judge said that, for purposes of sentencing, he found obstructing the certification was Sparks's intent, according to The Hill.
The judge ordered 53 months of prison, along with 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 Kelly.
Sparks, while addressing the judge, said 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.
The video during the riots showed Sparks jumping through a shattered Capitol window shortly after another rioter, Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, busted it open. When he entered the Capitol, he came face-to-face with US Capitol Police Sergeant Victor Nichols.
