(AFP) – A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the US Capitol during the January 6, 2021, attack on Congress by Donald Trump supporters was sentenced to 53 months in prison on Tuesday. Michael Sparks, 46, a factory supervisor, was convicted in March of civil disorder and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 57 months while Sparks’s defense attorneys asked that he be given 12 months of home detention. District Judge Timothy Kelly sentenced Sparks to 53 months in prison and a $2,000 fine.
In their sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Sparks was “the very first rioter to enter the United States Capitol building” and “helped light 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 US Capitol police) that hit him squarely in the face.” Capitol police sergeant Victor Nichols, testifying at Sparks’s trial in Washington, said he “acted like a green light for everybody behind him, and everyone followed right behind him.”
Nearly 1,500 people have been charged for their roles in the storming of Congress by supporters of former Republican president Trump. David Dempsey, 37, of Santa Ana, California, described by prosecutors as one of the “most violent” members of the mob, was sentenced to 20 years in prison this month. The sentence was the second longest handed down so far. Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys group, was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
The assault on the Capitol left at least five people dead and 140 police officers injured. It followed a fiery speech by Trump to supporters near the White House in which he repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 election. Trump faces four federal felony charges in Washington related to efforts to overturn the election results, but the case is unlikely to reach trial before the November presidential vote, in which he is once again the Republican candidate.
© 2024 AFP
