Capitol rioter gets eight months in prison on first felony conviction in January 6 attack

A Florida man who waved a “Trump 2020” flag on the floor of the Senate Chamber on January 6 was sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday – the first time an accused of the Capitol riots has been convicted of a felony charge.

Paul Hodgkins, a 38-year-old crane operator, pleaded guilty last month to a count of obstructing formal proceedings, and admitted to taking a selfie and joining a group of rioters who gathered outside the Senate Chamber, with the intention of obstructing the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

When the sentence was announced – which was less than the recommended 15-21 month sentence when Hodgkins pleaded guilty – Judge Randolph Moss called the attack on Capitol Hill an “attack on democracy,” but said that Hodgkins’ lack of criminal history and willingness to accept responsibility warranted a lower sentence. Hodgkins’ eight-month prison sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release.

His sentence could signal potential penalties for others accused of the Capitol riots. Prosecutors said earlier this month that nearly 235 defendants had been accused with the same crime to which Hodgkins pleaded guilty. “It looks like the whole nation will be listening,” Hodgkins attorney Patrick LeDuc said in a telephone interview with CBS News on Saturday.

LeDuc asked the court to sentence Hodgkins to house arrest only, but prosecutors urged the federal judge to sentence Hodgkins to 18 months in prison. In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, Special Assistant to US Prosecutor Mona Sedky stressed the need to take into account “the magnitude of what the riot has caused and meant”.

Sedky noted that Hodgkins entered the Senate Chamber during a “violent riot that engulfed the entire Capitol,” which injured more than 100 law enforcement officers and threatened the peaceful transfer of power after the presidential election.

“The rule of law was not only violated, it was attacked that day,” Sedky wrote. “A less severe sentence would suggest to the public in general and other rioters in particular that attempts to obstruct official proceedings are not taken seriously.

Sedky acknowledged that Hodgkins had taken “significant steps” toward rehabilitation and that he had not personally engaged in any violence or destruction of property that day, but wrote that the government could not ignore the seriousness of the situation. his crime.

“The need to deter others is particularly strong in cases involving domestic terrorism, which was certainly the case with the Capitol violation,” she wrote.

Unlike other criminal cases against the Capitol Riots, prosecutors did not charge Hodgkins with “crime of terrorismBut they likened his conduct to that of a national terrorist, writing that it was “intimidation or coercion” aimed at influencing the conduct of the government.

LeDuc rejected the idea that the events of January 6 constituted domestic terrorism. “It was a bridge too far for me,” he said, adding that the events of that day involved a protest which escalated.

In a court filing last week, LeDuc compared the continuing events of January 6 to the period of reconstruction after the American Civil War.

“Today the country is as divided as it was in the 1850s. But today this Court has a chance to make a difference,” LeDuc wrote. “We are fortunate to be as Lincoln had hoped, to exercise grace and charity, and restore healing to those who ask for forgiveness.”

So far, nearly 20 rioters on Capitol Hill have pleaded guilty and two have been convicted of misdemeanors: one, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, was condemned to three years probation and no jail time, and another, Michael Curzio, was sentenced to six months in jail, although the courts have credited him for the nearly six months he had already spent in prison in waiting for the courts to hear his case.

Those who have pleaded guilty face a wide range of recommended sentences, depending on their charges – a reminder of the different allegations against those accused of the Capitol riots, some of whom have only been charged with misdemeanors, while others may see years in prison for alleged assaults on officers, conspiracy and gun crimes.

An accused, Josias Colt, pleaded guilty to the same obstruction charge as Hodgkins, but faces a recommended sentence range of 51 months to 63 months, more than three times the sentence initially recommended by Hodgkins.

Unlike Hodgkins, Colt has been accused of bringing a cache of weapons and ammunition to DC, and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as they prosecute two co-conspirators.

In a statement read to court on Monday, Hodgkins said he felt remorse and shame for entering the Capitol that day. “If I had had any idea that the protests on Capitol Hill would escalate to the level they have reached, or that the charges would be the ones I have faced since,” he said, “I wouldn’t I would never have ventured beyond the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue. “

Hodgkins said that while he had not engaged in any acts of violence or theft, his involvement was still contributing to the “biggest problem that has happened.” He said, “I also sometimes thought that the company of us who remained calmer in our protest may have made others feel emboldened to carry through the destruction that has occurred.

Hodgkins said since his arrest he had spent more than 100 hours volunteering at an animal shelter and food bank, joined a church and been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Further,” he said, “I wish to state that I fully recognize and accept that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is respectfully and rightly the President of the United States.”

When announcing his decision, Moss cited Hodgkins standing by the dais of the US Senate and waving a “Trump 2020” flag. The symbolism of this act, Moss said, was “unmistakable.” Hodgkins had claimed the floor of the US Senate, “not with the American flag,” Moss said, but with a flag that declared his loyalty “to one individual, to one nation.”

Moss said: “This act captured the threat to democracy that we all witnessed that day.”