First Trump supporter to breach Capitol on Jan. 6 sentenced to over 4 years in prison
Michael Sparks, the very first rioter to breach the Capitol building on Jan. 6, indicated in court that he still believes Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election "to this day."
WASHINGTON — The very first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison Tuesday after he told a judge he still believes Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election "to this day."
Michael Sparks, who spent the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack consuming and regurgitating right-wing lies about the last presidential election, was sentenced to 53 months in federal prison at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who also oversaw the seditious conspiracy trial of members of the Proud Boys.
A Capitol Police officer shoots pepper spray at Michael Sparks as he enters the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Kevin Dietsch / UPI / Bloomberg via Getty Images file“I am an American citizen who believes to this day that we are in tyranny,” Sparks told Kelly, adding that he believes the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was “taken from the American people.”
Kelly emphasized that Sparks had the right to believe whatever conspiracy theory he wished no matter how divorced it was from reality but that he did not have the right to storm the Capitol.
“I don’t really think you appreciate the full gravity of what happened that day and frankly the full seriousness of what you did,” Kelly said, explaining why he went over the sentencing guidelines of 15 to 21 months.
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