A person who attacked law enforcement officials with poles throughout the riot on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Tuesday to greater than 5 years in jail, matching the longest time period of imprisonment up to now amongst lots of of Capitol riot prosecutions.
Mark Ponder, a 56-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., mentioned he “got caught up” within the chaos that erupted on Jan. 6, 2021, and “didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
“I wasn’t thinking that day,” Ponder advised U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, asking her for mercy earlier than she sentenced him to 5 years and three months in jail.
That was three months longer than the jail sentence requested by prosecutors. And it’s the identical sentence that Chutkan gave Robert Palmer, a Florida man who additionally pleaded responsible to assaulting police on the Capitol.
More than 200 different Capitol riot defendants have been sentenced up to now. None obtained an extended jail sentence than Ponder or Palmer.
Chutkan mentioned Ponder was “leading the charge” towards law enforcement officials making an attempt to carry off the mob that disrupted Congress from certifying President Biden’s electoral victory.
“This is not ‘caught up,’ Mr. Ponder,” she mentioned. “He was intent on attacking and injuring police officers. This was not a protest.”
Chutkan has constantly taken a tough line in punishing Capitol rioters. She has handed down phrases of imprisonment to all 13 riot defendants who’ve come earlier than her, matching or exceeding the Justice Department’s sentencing advice in each case, in keeping with an Associated Press evaluation of court docket information.
Prosecutors had advisable a five-year jail sentence for Ponder, who has been jailed since his arrest in March 2021.
In April, Ponder pleaded responsible to an assault cost punishable by a most sentence of 20 years in jail.
More than 100 law enforcement officials had been injured throughout the riot.
Defense lawyer Joseph Conte mentioned Ponder was “caught up in the madness that was January 6.”
Ponder swung a pole at a Capitol police officer on the Capitol’s West Plaza, breaking it towards the officer’s protect. After retreating into the group, Ponder grabbed a sturdier pole coloured in purple, white and blue stripes. He used it to assault two different officers, hitting one among them within the left shoulder, earlier than police detained and handcuffed him.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”