The first person to be convicted of a felony regarding actions during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has been sentenced to eight months in prison.
Paul Allard Hodgkins, a 38-year-old Tampa resident, received his sentence on Monday after he pleaded guilty to obstructing a proceeding last month, though he was not accused of assault or damaging property.
“If I had any idea that the protest … would escalate (the way) it did … I would never have ventured farther than the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue,” Hodgkins told the judge, according to the Associated Press, adding, “This was a foolish decision on my part.”
SENTENCE TO BE HANDED DOWN FOR FIRST CAPITOL RIOTER CHARGED WITH FELONY
Prosecutors wanted him to spend 18 months behind bars, while his defense sought no jail time.
Hodgkins’s lawyer, Patrick Leduc, maintained in a recent filing that prison was unnecessary for his client because any such jail time would “pale in comparison to the scarlet letter Mr. Hodgkins will wear for the rest of his life.”
He also argued that Hodgkins’s actions are similar to those of Anna Morgan Lloyd, a 49-year-old from Indiana, who was the first rioter arrested to be sentenced. She was sentenced to three years of probation, after pleading guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Prosecutors, however, noted that Hodgkins left Florida on a bus with a backpack, and inside it was rope, protective goggles, and latex gloves, which they argue shows he was prepared for violence. During the riot, Hodgkins wore a Trump 2020 T-shirt and carried a flag over his shoulder while walking onto the Senate floor.
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His sentence is expected to serve as a marker for other rioters who were arrested and are awaiting sentencing.
