First rioter to enter US Capitol sentenced to 53 months in prison – World

WASHINGTON: A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during the attack on Congress by Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, was sentenced to 53 months in prison on Tuesday.

Factory manager Michael Sparks, 46, was convicted in March of disturbing the peace and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a locked building.

The prosecution had demanded a prison sentence of 57 months, while Sparks' defense attorneys demanded 12 months of house arrest.

District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Sparks to 53 months in prison and a $2,000 fine.

Nearly 1,500 charges filed for storming Congress by Trump supporters

In their sentencing memo, prosecutors said Sparks was “the very first rioter to enter the United States Capitol” and “helped start the fire that day.” Sparks jumped through a broken window, they said, “ignoring the warnings of the rioters behind him and the pepper spray (from the U.S. Capitol Police) that hit him directly in the face.”

Capitol Police Sergeant Victor Nichols testified at Sparks' trial in Washington that he “acted like a green light to everyone behind him, and everyone followed right behind him.”

Nearly 1,500 people have been charged for their role in the storming of Congress by supporters of former Republican President Trump.

David Dempsey, 37, of Santa Ana, California, whom prosecutors described as one of the mob's “most violent” members, was sentenced this month to 20 years in prison.

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy.

At least five people were killed in the attack on the Capitol and 140 police officers were injured.

Earlier, Trump gave a heated speech to his supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he had won the 2020 election.

In Washington, Trump is charged with four serious federal crimes related to his attempts to overturn the election results, but the case is unlikely to go to trial before the presidential election in November, in which he is again the Republican nominee.

New litigation

Meanwhile, the former police officer charged with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol returns to court Wednesday for the first time since convincing the U.S. Supreme Court to raise the bar for obstruction of justice charges against dozens of alleged rioters.

The Supreme Court's decision in Joseph Fischer impacts more than 250 criminal prosecutions related to the Capitol riots, when Trump supporters stormed the building to prevent lawmakers from acknowledging his 2020 defeat.

The court ruled in June by a 6-3 majority and requires prosecutors to prove that the defendants accused of obstructing an official process to certify the election by Congress compromised or attempted to compromise the availability or integrity of documents or other records.

Published in Dawn, 29 August 2024