The guy from Kentucky who broke into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 and then joined a group of rioters chasing a police officer up several flights of stairs will spend years in prison.
Michael Sparks, 47, was found guilty of several felonies and crimes in March in connection with the attack on January 6.
That time, Law & Crime said that Dominic Pezzola, a guilty member of the Proud Boys, broke a window and used a stolen police shield to break into the building. Sparks then climbed through it.
When Sparks landed inside the Capitol, police yelled at him to stop, but he didn’t listen and kept running, officials said. He ignored multiple orders to leave the building.
“Instead, he went to the front of the field and confronted the police officer they had been chasing up the stairs.” He yelled, “This is our America!” As he got more angry, he said, ‘This is our America!'” A statement from the Justice Department says this.
A judge named by Donald Trump, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, gave the sentence on Tuesday. It was only four months shorter than the 57 months that prosecutors had asked for.
The most serious charge, obstruction of an official proceeding, was also dropped after the Supreme Court decided that it did not apply to the people accused of rioting on January 6 as Congress got ready to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
He was charged with crimes and tried and found guilty, but Sparks still seems to believe the ridiculous conspiracy theory that the election results were rigged.
“I am an American citizen who believes to this day that we are in tyranny,” Sparks told Kelly during the hearing Tuesday, according to NBC News reporter Ryan J. Reilly. Sparks is also said to think that the 2020 election was “taken from the American people.”
Kelly told Sparks that his views did not give him the right to attack the Capitol, no matter what they were.
The NBC story says Kelly told the young man, “I don’t think you really understand the full gravity of what happened that day and the full seriousness of what you did.”
Kelly is said to have told Sparks that the rioters had messed up a process that was “fundamental to our country’s governance” and that the events of January 6 “just cannot happen again.”
The events of January 6 set a very bad example. Based on NBC News, Kelly said, “What a Pandora’s box it opened.” Also, he said that the U.S. had a “perfect score” for peaceful changes of power before January 6.
Kelly is said to have said, “We can’t get that back.” “It’s gone.”
The NBC story said Kelly’s sentence was longer than the recommended range of 15 to 21 months.
Lawyers for Sparks had asked for a 12-month sentence of being locked up at home.
In the sentencing letter, Mike’s lawyer wrote, “Mike can be saved.” “He deserves to be saved.”
The government docket says that Sparks will be able to self-surrender, but it doesn’t say when he can do so.
Brandi Buchman helped with this story.