The first person to be convicted in a January 6 insurrection case has just be sentenced to eight months in prison, far less than the 18 months federal prosecutors had requested. The judge told him he inflicted “a damage that will persist in this country for several decades.”
Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, of Tampa, Florida pleaded guilty in June to one felony count of obstructing an official proceeding. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years.
Hodgkins “was seen carrying a large red ‘Trump 2020′ flag on the floor of the U.S. Senate during the Capitol riot,” NBC News’ Pete Williams reports.
“Although you were only one member of a larger mob, you actively participated in a larger event that threatened the Capitol and democracy itself,” U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss of Washington, D.C. told Hodgkins.
“The damage that was caused that way was way beyond a several-hour delay of the vote certification,” Judge Moss said. “It is a damage that will persist in this country for several decades.”
Mona Sedky, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the judge Hodgkins’ goal in entering the Capitol “was to disturb the election process and disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”
While in the U.S. Senate on January 6, in addition to carrying around a Trump 2020 flag Hodgkins took a selfie with the “QAnon shaman.”
The criminal complaint against Hodgkins includes this “selfie.”