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…
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