Trump supporter who took part in Capitol riot sentenced to 8 months for felony | US Capitol attack | The Guardian
Lawyers for Paul Hodgkins, who pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing an official proceeding, ask for leniency
Hodgkins pictured during the riot. Prosecutors said he deserves some leniency for taking responsibility almost immediately and pleading guilty to the obstruction charge. Photograph: AP
A Florida man who breached the US Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag is scheduled on Monday to become the first 6 January rioter sentenced for a felony, in a hearing that will help set a benchmark for punishment in similar cases.
Prosecutors want Paul Hodgkins to serve 18 months, saying in a recent filing that he “like each rioter contributed to the collective threat to democracy” by forcing lawmakers to temporarily abandon their certification of Joe Biden’s election victory and to scramble for shelter from incoming mobs.
Video footage shows Hodgkins, 38, inside the Senate, wearing a Trump 2020 T-shirt, a flag flung over his shoulder and eye goggles around his neck. He took a selfie with a self-described shaman in a horned helmet and other rioters on the dais behind him.
