Florida man 1st to face sentencing for felony in riot at US Capitol

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Associated video: Police will lead off panel’s first Jan. 6 hearingA Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump marketing campaign flag is scheduled to change into the primary Jan. 6 rioter sentenced for a felony, in a listening to that can assist set a benchmark for punishment in comparable instances. Prosecutors need Paul Allard Hodgkins to serve 18 months behind bars, saying in a current submitting that he, “like every rioter, contributed to the collective risk to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to quickly abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s election victory and to scramble for shelter from incoming mobs.Video footage reveals Hodgkins, 38, sporting a Trump 2023 T-shirt, the flag flung over his shoulder and eye goggles round his neck contained in the Senate. He took a selfie with a self-described shaman in a horned helmet and different rioters on the dais behind him.His sentencing Monday in Washington may set the bar for punishments of tons of of different defendants as they determine whether or not to just accept plea offers or go to trial. Hodgkins and others are accused of significant crimes however weren’t indicted, as different had been, for roles in bigger conspiracies. A lawyer for Hodgkins, who pleaded responsible final month to 1 rely of obstructing an official continuing, requested U.S. District Choose Randolph Moss to not impose a jail sentence, saying the disgrace that can connect to Hodgkins for the remainder of his life must be factored in as punishment.“No matter punishment this courtroom might present will pale compared to the scarlet letter Mr. Hodgkins will put on for the remainder of his life,” Patrick N. Leduc wrote in a current submitting, citing a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel during which a girl accused of adultery is compelled to put on a letter “A.”The submitting argues that Hodgkins’ actions weren’t markedly totally different from these of Anna Morgan Lloyd — aside from Hodgkins stepping onto the Senate ground. The 49-year-old from Indiana was the primary of roughly 500 arrested to be sentenced. She pleaded responsible to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and final month was sentenced to 3 years of probation.Hodgkins was by no means accused of assaulting anybody or damaging property. And prosecutors stated he deserves some leniency for taking accountability virtually instantly and pleading responsible to the obstruction cost, which carries a most 20-years jail sentence.However in addition they famous how he boarded a bus in his hometown of Tampa certain for a Jan. 6 Trump rally carrying rope, protecting goggles and latex gloves in a backpack — saying that demonstrated he got here to Washington ready for violence.On the day, he walked by means of grounds already plagued by smashed police obstacles and damaged home windows, night passing cops and others injured as the gang surged towards the Capitol, prosecutors stated. “Time and time once more, relatively than flip round and retreat, Hodgkins pressed ahead,” the federal government submitting stated. Leduc described his consumer as an in any other case law-abiding American who, regardless of residing in a poorer a part of Tampa, usually volunteered at a meals financial institution. He famous that Hodgkins had been an Eagle Scout.His actions on Jan. 6 “is the story of a person who for only one hour on sooner or later misplaced his bearings … who made a fateful choice to observe the gang,” the legal professional stated. Leduc’s 33-page presentencing submitting devotes a number of pages to the Civil Struggle, highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s requires reconciliation weeks earlier than his assassination. “The courtroom has an opportunity to emulate Lincoln,” he wrote.

Associated video: Police will lead off panel’s first Jan. 6 listening to

A Florida man who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump marketing campaign flag is scheduled to change into the primary Jan. 6 rioter sentenced for a felony, in a listening to that can assist set a benchmark for punishment in comparable instances.

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Prosecutors need Paul Allard Hodgkins to serve 18 months behind bars, saying in a current submitting that he, “like every rioter, contributed to the collective risk to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to quickly abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s election victory and to scramble for shelter from incoming mobs.

Video footage reveals Hodgkins, 38, sporting a Trump 2023 T-shirt, the flag flung over his shoulder and eye goggles round his neck contained in the Senate. He took a selfie with a self-described shaman in a horned helmet and different rioters on the dais behind him.

His sentencing Monday in Washington may set the bar for punishments of tons of of different defendants as they determine whether or not to just accept plea offers or go to trial. Hodgkins and others are accused of significant crimes however weren’t indicted, as different had been, for roles in bigger conspiracies.

A lawyer for Hodgkins, who pleaded responsible final month to 1 rely of obstructing an official continuing, requested U.S. District Choose Randolph Moss to not impose a jail sentence, saying the disgrace that can connect to Hodgkins for the remainder of his life must be factored in as punishment.

“No matter punishment this courtroom might present will pale compared to the scarlet letter Mr. Hodgkins will put on for the remainder of his life,” Patrick N. Leduc wrote in a current submitting, citing a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel during which a girl accused of adultery is compelled to put on a letter “A.”

The submitting argues that Hodgkins’ actions weren’t markedly totally different from these of Anna Morgan Lloyd — aside from Hodgkins stepping onto the Senate ground. The 49-year-old from Indiana was the primary of roughly 500 arrested to be sentenced. She pleaded responsible to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and final month was sentenced to 3 years of probation.

Hodgkins was by no means accused of assaulting anybody or damaging property. And prosecutors stated he deserves some leniency for taking accountability virtually instantly and pleading responsible to the obstruction cost, which carries a most 20-years jail sentence.

However in addition they famous how he boarded a bus in his hometown of Tampa certain for a Jan. 6 Trump rally carrying rope, protecting goggles and latex gloves in a backpack — saying that demonstrated he got here to Washington ready for violence.

On the day, he walked by means of grounds already plagued by smashed police obstacles and damaged home windows, night passing cops and others injured as the gang surged towards the Capitol, prosecutors stated.

“Time and time once more, relatively than flip round and retreat, Hodgkins pressed ahead,” the federal government submitting stated.

Leduc described his consumer as an in any other case law-abiding American who, regardless of residing in a poorer a part of Tampa, usually volunteered at a meals financial institution. He famous that Hodgkins had been an Eagle Scout.

His actions on Jan. 6 “is the story of a person who for only one hour on sooner or later misplaced his bearings … who made a fateful choice to observe the gang,” the legal professional stated.

Leduc’s 33-page presentencing submitting devotes a number of pages to the Civil Struggle, highlighting Abraham Lincoln’s requires reconciliation weeks earlier than his assassination.

“The courtroom has an opportunity to emulate Lincoln,” he wrote.

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