In this image from U.S. Capitol Police video, Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, Fla., stands in the well on the flooring of the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.
U.S. Capitol Police by means of AP
WASHINGTON – A Florida male was sentenced to 8 months in jail Monday, marking the very first felony sentence from the lethal Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, was detained in February after the FBI got a pointer recognizing him bring a big “Trump 2020” flag on the flooring of the U.S. Senate.
Hodgkins pleaded guilty in June to a single felony count of blocking a main case. The felony brings an optimal sentence of 20 years in jail. Following his jail sentence, Hodgkins will be put under 2 years of monitored release.
Hodgkins is the 3rd individual to be sentenced for becoming part of the trouble at the U.S. Capitol. In June, an Indiana female was offered 3 years probation after pleading guilty to a charge of unlawfully showing in the Capitol. Last week a Florida male was sentenced to 6 months in jail after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
More than 500 individuals have actually been charged with federal criminal activities for their function in the Jan. 6 Capitol intrusion.
“Although you were only one member of a larger mob, you actively participated in a larger event that threatened the Capitol and democracy itself,” U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss of Washington, D.C., stated throughout the two-hour court case.
Moss called the occasions that unfolded at the Capitol “extraordinary” and an “assault on democracy.”
Hodgkins explained his actions on Jan. 6 as the outcome of a “foolish decision” and informed the court that he was “caught up in an emotional protest.”
“I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I am truly remorseful and regretful for my actions, not because I face consequences but because of the damage that day’s incident caused and the way this country that I love has been hurt,” Hodgkins stated Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s fans collect outside the Capitol structure in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The riot that broke out in Washington required Congress to recess from the joint session that was arranged to officially reveal Joe Biden’s triumph in November’s election.
After the Capitol had actually been protected, Biden’s triumph over then-President Donald Trump was validated by Congress.
Trump, throughout a rally outside the White House, motivated countless fans to march to the Capitol to oppose what traditionally have actually been ritualistic procedures.
Trump went back to the White House after his speech. During the subsequent rioting, he informed fans in a tweeted video “you have to go home now,” however he didn’t condemn the violence and continued to wrongly declare he won the election.Â
Twitter later on got rid of that tweet and locked the president’s account.
On Monday, Vanity Fair released an excerpt of the brand-new book “I Alone Can Fix It,” in which Trump states his desire was the exact same as the rioters’ on Jan. 6 – reversing Biden’s election.
“Personally, what I wanted is what they wanted,” Trump stated of the rioters, according to the book’s authors, Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.
